<77ic  CURTYTOPS 
AND  THEIR  PETS 


\  HOWARD R.GARIS  I 


2i 

'  o 


ONE  OF  THE  TRICKS  WAS  TO  RUN  AND  JUMP  THROUGH  A  PAPER 

HOOP. 
"The   Curly  tops   and  Their   Pets."  Pa^e   240 


THE  CURLYTOPS 

AND 

THEIR  PETS 

OR 

Uncle  Toby's  Strange  Collection 


BY 

HOWARD  R.  GARIS 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  CURLYTOPS  SERIES,"  "UNCLE 
WIGGILY  SERIES,"  "BEDTIME  STORIES,"  ETC. 


Illustrations  bv 
JULIA  GREENE 


NEW  YORK 
CUPPLES  &  LEON  COMPANY 


THE  CURLYTOPS  SERIES 

By  HOWARD  R.  PARIS 

I2mo.    Ooth.    Illustrated. 


THE  CURLYTOPS  AT  CHERRY  FARM 
Or,  Vacation  Days  in  the  Country 

THE  CURLYTOPS  ON  STAR  ISLAND 
Or,  Camping  Out  With  Grandpa 

THE  CURLYTOPS  SNOWED  IN 

Or,  Grand  Fun  With  Skates  and  Sleds 

THE  CURLYTOPS  AT  UNCLE  FRANK'S 

RANCH 
Or,  Little  Folks  on  Ponyback 

THE  CURLYTOPS  AT  SILVER  LAKE 
Or,  On  the  Water  With  Uncle  Ben 

THE  CURLYTOPS  AND  THEIR  PETS 
Or,  Uncle  Toby's  Strange  Collection 


CUPPLES  &  LEON  COMPANY,  New  York 


COPYRIGHT,  1921,  BY 
CUPPLES  &  LEON  COMPANY 


THE  CURLYTOPS  AND  THEIR  PETS 


Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  UNCLE  TOBY'S  LETTER    ,.]  M  1 

II  AN  AUTOMOBILE  RIDE    -M  .  14 

III  THE  QUEER  OLD  LADY    .  .  28 

IV  UNCLE  TOBY'S  PETS  ...     .  .  40 

V  TIP    AND    TOP      .        ..;       >;       L.-  .  52 

VI  WHERE  Is  TIP?     .      .     w  >  65 

VII  A  FUZZY  BURGLAR    ...  79 

VIII  SLIDER  GOES  SLIDING  .     .  .  92 

IX  MRS.  JOHNSON'S  BABY    >;  .  104 

X  MR.  CAPPER'S  BUNS    .     ,.:  .  116 

XI  TOP  ACTS  STRANGELY     .  .  128 

XII  MR.  NIP'S  ALARM      .     .  .  141 

XIII  THE  HAND-ORGAN  MAN  >,  .  154 

XIV  TURNOVER  AND  SKYROCKET  .  166 


2088250 


Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XV  PLANNING  THE  CIRCUS     .     .  182 

XVI  TOP  Is  GONE 193 

XVII  THE  DOG  SHOW    ....  203 

XVIII  THE  BLACK  POODLES      .      .  212 

XIX  A  HAPPY  REUNION    .     .     .  221 

XX  THE  CUELYTOPS'  CIECUS  231 


THE  CURLYTOPS  AND 
THEIR  PETS 

CHAPTER  I 

UNCLE  TOBY'S  LETTER 

"WHAT  you  going  to  put  on  your  ship, 
Ted?" 

"Oh,  swords  and  guns  and  gunpowder  and 
soldiers.  What  you  going  to  load  on  your 
ship,  Jan?" 

"Oranges  and  lemons  and  pineapples," 
answered  the  little  girl,  who  was  playing 
with  her  brother  at  sailing  boats  in  the 
brook  that  ran  back  of  the  house.  "And 
maybe  I'll  have  gold  and  diamonds  and 
chocolate  cake  on  my  ship,  Teddy,"  went  on 
Janet  Martin. 

"If  you  do  111  be  a  pirate  and  sink  your 
ship!  Oh,  Jan,  let's  play  that!  I'll  be  a 
pirate!" 

Teddy  Martin  jumped  up   so  suddenly 

from  the  bank  of  the  brook,  where  he  was 

i 


Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XV  PLANNING  THE  CIRCUS     .     .  182 

XVI  TOP  Is  GONE 193 

XVII  THE  DOG  SHOW    ....  203 

XVIII  THE  BLACK  POODLES      .      .  212 

XIX  A  HAPPY  REUNION    .     .     .  221 

XX  THE  CURLYTOPS'  CIRCUS  231 


THE  CURLYTOPS  AND 
THEIR  PETS 

CHAPTER  I 

UNCLE  TOBY'S  LETTER 

you  going  to  put  on  your  ship, 


Ted?" 

"Oh,  swords  and  guns  and  gunpowder  and 
soldiers.  What  you  going  to  load  on  your 
ship,  Jan?" 

"Oranges  and  lemons  and  pineapples," 
answered  the  little  girl,  who  was  playing 
with  her  brother  at  sailing  boats  in  the 
brook  that  ran  back  of  the  house.  "And 
maybe  I'll  have  gold  and  diamonds  and 
chocolate  cake  on  my  ship,  Teddy,"  went  on 
Janet  Martin. 

"If  you  do  I'll  be  a  pirate  and  sink  your 
ship!  Oh,  Jan,  let's  play  that!  I'll  be  a 
pirate  !  '  ' 

Teddy  Martin  jumped  up  so  suddenly 
from  the  bank  of  the  brook,  where  he  was 


2  The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

loading  his  ship  with  what  he  called  "  swords, 
guns  and  gunpowder,"  that  he  tipped  the 
vessel  over  and  the  whole  cargo  was  spilled 
into  the  water. 

"Oh,  look  what  you  did!"  cried  Janet. 
"Your  gunpowder  will  be  all  wet!" 

"I'm  not  ready  to  play  the  pirate  game 
yet, ' '  explained  Teddy.  ' t  Anyhow,  I  can  get 
more  powder." 

This  would  be  easy  enough,  it  seemed,  as 
the  children  were  only  pretending  that 
stones,  pebbles  and  bits  of  sticks  were  the 
cargoes  of  their  toy  ships,  and,  as  Teddy  had 
said,  he  could  easily  get  more  stones.  The 
brook  was  filled  with  them. 

"Where  are  you  going?"  Janet  called 
after  her  brother,  as  she  saw  him  hurrying 
toward  the  house,  which  was  out  of  sight  be- 
hind the  trees  and  bushes  that  grew  on  the 
edge  of  the  brook. 

"I'm  going  to  get  a  black  flag  so  I  can  be 
a  pirate  and  sink  your  ship  with  gold,  dia- 
monds and  chocolate  cakes  on!"  answered 
Teddy  over  his  shoulder  as  he  ran  on. 

"I — I  don't  guess  I  want  you  to  be  a  pi- 
rate," said  Janet  slowly,  as  she  looked  at 
her  ship,  on  which  the  pebbles,  stones  and 


Uncle  Toby's  Letter 


bits  of  wood  were  neatly  arranged  in  piles. 
"I'm  not  going  to  play  that  game!  I  don't 
want  you  to  be  a  pirate,  Ted!  It's  too 
scary!" 

But  her  brother  was  beyond  the  reach  of 
her  voice  now,  hurrying  toward  the  house 
after  his  "black  pirate  flag."  Janet  shoved 
her  ship  out  from  the  shore — her  ship  laden 
with  diamonds,  gold  and  chocolate  cakes. 
Of  course  it  was  not  a  real  ship.  The  Curly- 
tops  would  not  have  had  half  as  much  fun 
with  real  ships  as  they  were  having  with  the 
pieces  of  boards  which  they  were  making  be- 
lieve were  steamers  and  sailing  vessels. 

"I'll  sail  my  ship  away  down  to  the  end 
of  the  brook  before  Ted  gets  back  to  be  a 
pirate,"  said  Janet  to  herself,  as,  with  a  long 
stick,  she  directed  the  flat  board  which  was 
piled  high  with  brook-pebbles.  '  *  Then  when 
he  comes  back  he  can't  sink  it." 

Janet  pushed  her  ship  slowly  at  first,  and 
then  a  little  faster,  moving  it  along  by  means 
of  the  stick  while  she  stood  on  the  bank. 
Then,  hearing  a  noise  in  the  bushes  behind 
her,  she  thrust  harder  on  the  stick. 

"I  don't  want  Teddy  to  pirate  my  ship!" 
she  thought.  "I'll  fool  him!  I'll  sail  it 
around  the  bend,  and  then  111  hide  behind 


4  The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

the  big  buttonball  tree  and  he  won't  know 
where  I've  gone!" 

In  order  to  do  this  Janet  wanted  to  make 
her  ship  go  as  fast  as  possible,  so  she  shoved 
harder  and  harder  on  the  stick.  And  then, 
all  of  a  sudden,  her  ship  upset. 

With  a  splash  the  stones,  pebbles  and  bits 
of  wood  went  into  the  brook.  The  whole 
cargo  was  sunk  and  lost  as  surely  as  if  Ted's 
pirate  vessel  had  captured  that  of  his  sister. 
That  is,  everything  sank  but  the  ship  itself 
and  the  cargo  of.  little  sticks,  some  of  which 
Janet  was  pretending  were  chocolate  cakes. 
Even  at  that,  I  suppose,  the  chocolate  cakes 
would  be  wet  and  soggy.  And  soggy  choco- 
late cake  isn't  good  to  eat.  The  best  thing 
you  can  do  with  it  is  to  make  it  into  a  pud- 
ding. 

"Oh,  Ted!  look  what  you  made  me  do," 
cried  Janet  sadly,  as  she  saw  the  ship,  which 
she  had  loaded  with  such  care,  capsized  and 
cleared  of  its  cargo.  "It's  all  your  fault!" 

And  then  she  started  in  surprise  as  a  baby- 
ish voice  replied : 

"I  'idn't  do  nuffin!  I  'ust  corned!  What's 
matter,  Jan?" 

"Oh,  it's  you,  is  it,  Trouble?"  asked  the 
girl,  as  she  turned  and  saw,  instead  of 


Uncle  Toby's  Letter 


Teddy,  her  smaller  brother  William,  more 
often  called  " Trouble,"  because  he  was  in  it 
so  often. 

"Yep!  Me  is  here!"  announced  Trouble. 
Sometimes  he  talked  more  correctly  than 
this,  and  his  mother  had  told  Janet  and 
Teddy  to  try  to  cure  him  of  his  baby  talk 
and  the  wrong  use  of  words.  But  Ted  and 
Jan  thought  it  was  "cute"  to  hear  Trouble 
say  queer  things,  so  they  did  not  mend  his 
talk  as  often  as  they  might. 

"I  thought  you  were  Ted,"  went  on  Janet. 
* '  Did  you  see  him  ?  He  went  up  to  the  house 
to  get  a  flag." 

"Flag,"  returned  Trouble,  in  a  question- 
ing voice.  "Goin'  to  be  soldiers  an'  have  a 
'rade?"  He  meant  parade,  of  course. 

"No,  we  aren't  going  to  have  a  parade 
now,  Trouble,"  said  Janet.  "Ted  went  to 
get  a  black  flag  to  be  a  pirate,  so  he  could 
sink  my  ship  that  was  loaded  with  diamonds, 
gold  and  chocolate  cakes." 

"I  want  chocolate  cake — two  pieces!"  de- 
manded Trouble,  who  had  ears  only  for  the 
last  words  of  his  sister. 

"There  wasn't  any  chocolate  cake — really, 
dear,"  explained  the  little  girl,  as  she  ruf- 
fled up  her  curly  hair.  "Ted  and  I  were 


6  The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

just  pretending.  He  is  going  to  have  a  pi- 
rate ship.  I  didn't  want  him  to  get  mine,  so 
I  was  shoving  it  hard  down  the  brook,  but 
I  made  it  go  too  fast  and  it  upset.  Now  I've 
got  to  load  my  ship  all  over  again." 

"I  want  s'ip !"  demanded  William,  as  Jan 
began  to  guide  her  empty  vessel  back  to  shore 
by  means  of  the  long  stick.  "Trouble  have 
a  s'ip?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,  you  may  have  a  ship,  and  play  with 
us,"  Janet  said,  and  as  she  was  looking  about 
for  a  board  which  might  serve  her  little 
brother  to  play  with,  she  heard  someone  com- 
ing through  the  bushes. 

"I  guess  this  is  Ted,"  thought  Janet. 
"Anyhow  he  can't  sink  my  ship  now.  I  did 
it  myself." 

It  was  her  older  brother,  and  he  now  came 
bursting  through  the  shrubbery  that  lined 
the  bank  of  the  brook,  holding  in  his  hands 
a  piece  of  black  cloth. 

"I  got  the  pirate  flag!"  cried  Teddy. 
"Whoop-la!  Now  I'm  going  to  sink  your 
ship!  Why,  what  happened?"  he  asked,  as 
he  saw  that  Janet's  craft  was  empty.  "Did 
Trouble  upset  it?" 

"No,  I  did  it  myself,"  Janet  answered. 
"  But  I  didn  't  mean  to.  I  was  trying  to  hide 


Uncle  Toby's  Letter 


it  from  you,  'cause  I  don't  want  you  to  be  a 
pirate  and  upset  my  ship  full  of  chocolate 
cakes." 

1 1  Oh,  I  must  be  a  pirate !  Here  's  the  black 
flag  and  I  must  be  a  pirate  1"  shouted  Teddy. 
' t  Whoop !  I  'm  a  pirate !  I  'm  a  pirate ! ' ' 

"Hoo!  Hoo!  Hoop!"  yelled  Trouble, 
trying  to  make  as  much  noise  as  his  brother. 

"  You  sound  more  like  an  Indian  than  you 
do  a  pirate,"  said  Janet,  as  she  began  to 
pile  more  pebbles  on  the  board  that  was  her 
ship. 

1  '  Well,  Indians  and  pirates  are  'most  the 
same,"  declared  Teddy.  "Wait  till  you  see 
my  ship,  with  swords  and  guns  and  powder ! 
It  will  blow  your  ship  out  of  the  water,  and 
I'll  have  a  black  flag  on  it  and  everything! 
Whoop!" 

"I'm  not  going  to  play  if  you  upset  my 
ship,  now  there !"  and  Janet  pouted  her  lips 
and  ceased  loading  pebbles  aboard  her  craft. 

Teddy,  who  was  cutting  a  flagstaff  with 
his  knife,  stopped  to  look  at  her.  If  Janet 
was  going  to  act  this  way,  and  not  send  out 
her  ship,  there  was  no  use  in  being  a  pirate. 
What  fun  could  even  a  make-believe  pirate 
have  if  there  were  no  ships  to  sink  ? 

Teddy  thought  of  this,  and  then  he  said: 


8  The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"All  right,  Jan,  I  won't  be  a  pirate  if  you 
don't  want  me  to.  But  I'll  have  a  black  flag, 
anyhow,  and  maybe  I'll  be  a  pirate  some 
other  time.  Let's  have  a  race  with  our  ships 
— see  which  one  gets  to  the  water-wheel 
first." 

"Yes,  I'll  do  that,"  agreed  Janet. 

At  the  lower  end  of  the  brook  she  and 
Teddy  had  built  a  little  dam,  and  where  the 
water  flowed  over  the  top,  like  a  tiny  Niagara 
Falls,  Teddy  had  fastened  a  wooden  paddle 
wheel  which  turned  as  the  water  flowed  on  it. 

"Me  want  a  s'ip!"  wailed  Trouble,  as  he 
saw  his  brother  and  sister  getting  their  ves- 
sels ready  for  the  race. 

"Can't  you  give  him  a  piece  of  board  for 
his  ship,  Ted?"  asked  Janet.  "If  we  don't 
he'll  get  in  our  way  and  spoil  the  race." 

"Here,  Trouble,  take  this,"  and  Teddy 
paused  long  enough  in  his  work  of  loading 
pebbles  on  his  ship  to  toss  his  little  brother 
a  small  chip  he  picked  up  off  the  shore. 

"Hu!  I  want  bigger  s'ip  'n'  him!"  de- 
clared Trouble,  with  a  grunt.  Then  he  arose 
and  toddled  off  through  the  bushes.  Teddy 
and  Janet  were  so  busy  getting  their  own 
vessels  ready  for  the  coming  race  that  they; 


Uncle  Toby's  Letter 


paid  no  more  attention  to  their  small  brother. 
And  Trouble  was  going  to  get  into  trouble — 
you  may  be  sure  of  that. 

" Don't  put  too  many  stones  on  your  ship, 
Jan,"  called  Ted  to  his  sister,  as  he  saw  that 
she  was  piling  on  the  pebbles. 

" Why  not?"  she  asked. 

"  'Cause  you'll  make  it  so  heavy  that  it 
won 't  sail  fast.  Course  I  want  to  beat  you, ' ' 
Ted  went  on,  "but  I  want  to  beat  you  fair." 

' l  Oh,  thank  you, ' '  Janet  answered.  "But 
these  aren't  stones  I'm  loading  on  my  ship 
this  time." 

"What  are  they?"  asked  Ted. 

"Feathers,"  his  sister  answered.  "I'm 
making  believe  the  stones  are  feathers,  and 
I'm  going  to  sell  them  to  make  pillows  for 
dolls.  My  ship  won't  be  too  heavy!" 

"Hu!"  grunted  Ted,  as  he  placed  the 
pebbles  carefully  on  the  middle  of  his  ship, 
so  it  would  not  turn  over.  "Stones  are 
heavy,  whether  you  make  believe  they're 
feathers  or  not.  Don't  put  too  many  on,  I'm 
telling  you!" 

"All  right,  I  won't,"  agreed  Janet. 

The  boy  and  the  girl  went  on  with  their 
game,  and  they  were  almost  ready  to  start 
their  ships  off:  on  the  race  when  there  was  a 


10          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

racket  in  the  bushes  back  of  them.  It  was 
a  bumping,  banging  sound  that  Ted  and 
Janet  heard,  then  followed  the  bark  of  a 
dog. 

"That's  Skyrocket!"  said  Ted. 

A  moment  later  came  a  voice,  calling : 

"Whoa-up!  Don't  go  so  fas'!  You  is 
spillin'  me!" 

"That's  Trouble!"  declared  Janet. 

They  were  both  right.  A  moment  later 
there  burst  through  the  bushes  the  little  boy 
and  the  dog.  The  dog  was  Skyrocket,  and 
he  was  made  fast  to  a  box  which  he  was  drag- 
ging along  by  a  rope  tied  around  his  neck. 
Trouble  was  holding  to  the  rear  of  the  box, 
and  in  his  eagerness  to  pull  it  along  Sky- 
rocket was  also  dragging  Trouble,  "spill- 
in'  '  him,  in  fact — that  is,  pulling  Trouble 
off  his  feet  every  now  and  then. 

"Why,  William!  what  are  you  doing?" 
asked  Janet.  Trouble  was  hardly  ever  called 
by  his  right  name  of  William  unless  he  had 
done  something  wrong. 

"Were  you  trying  to  have  Skyrocket  ride 
you  in  that  box?"  asked  Teddy.  "If  you 
were,  he  can't.  Sky  can't  pull  you  in  that 
box  unless  it  has  wheels  on  it.  Then  it's  a 
wagon." 


Uncle  Toby's  Letter 11 

"Don't  want  wagon — dis  my  s'ip!"  an- 
nounced the  little  fellow,  as  he  began  to 
loosen  the  rope  from  the  dog's  neck.  But  as 
soon  as  Trouble  started  to  do  this,  Sky- 
rocket, who  loved  the  children,  began  to  lick 
William's  face  with  a  red  tongue. 

' '  'Top  it !  'Top  it ! "  commanded  Trouble, 
but  Skyrocket  only  licked  the  more. 

"Oh,  Ted,  unfasten  Sky,  or  he'll  eat 
Trouble  up!"  laughed  Janet. 

"Are  you  going  to  sail  that  big  box  for 
your  ship,  Trouble  ?"  asked  Ted,  as  he  loosed 
the  dog. 

"Yep!  Dis  box  my  s'ip,"  announced  the 
small  boy.  "I  sail  it!" 

"Well,  don't  sail  it  near  ours  or  you'll  up- 
set our  ships — yours  is  so  much  larger, 
dear,"  begged  Janet. 

"I  be  ca'eful!"  Trouble  promised.  "I 
find  this  big  box  for  my  s'ip  in  kitchen,  an' 
Sky  drag  it  here  for  me !" 

"Yes,  Skyrocket  is  a  good  dog,"  said  Ted. 
"Hi  there !  Don't  wag  your  tail  so  near  my 
ship,  or  you'll  upset  her  before  I  beat  Jan 
in  the  race!"  shouted  Teddy,  as  the  dog,  in 
his  joy  at  being  with  the  Curlytops,  nearly 
spoiled  their  plans  for  having  fun. 

"Here!    Go  chase  that!"  cried  Ted,  toss- 


12          The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

ing  a  stick  far  down  the  brook.  And  as  Sky- 
rocket splashed  into  the  water  after  it,  a 
loud  whistle  was  heard  across  the  field  on 
the  other  side  of  the  brook. 

"There's  the  postman!'7  called  Janet. 

"Yes,  he's  coming  here,  and  he's  got  a 
letter  in  his  hand,"  announced  Teddy. 
"He's  taking  the  short  cut." 

Sometimes  the  mail  carrier  came  across 
the  lots  near  the  Martin  home,  as  he  was  do- 
ing on  this  occasion.  The  Curlytops  ceased 
the  loading  of  their  ships  long  enough  to  run 
and  meet  the  carrier. 

"There's  a  letter  for  your  mother,"  the 
postman  said,  as  he  handed  the  missive  to 
Ted.  "Don't  drop  it  in  the  brook." 

' 1 1  won 't, ' '  promised  the  boy.  ' 1 1  wonder 
who  the  letter  is  from?"  he  went  on,  as  the 
postman  continued  over  the  lots  to  his  next 
stopping  place,  blowing  his  whistle  on  the 
way. 

"Any  mail,  children?"  called  a  voice. 

"There's  mother,  now!"  said  Janet. 

"Yes,  here's  a  letter,"  called  Ted.  His 
mother  had  walked  down  to  the  brook  from 
the  house,  along  the  back  path,  to  see  what 
her  Curlytops  and  Trouble  were  doing. 

Mrs.  Martin  opened  and  read  the  letter 


Uncle  Toby's  Letter  13 

as  Ted  and  Janet  went  back  to  their  play, 
and  as  she  turned  the  pages  she  gave  an  ex- 
clamation of  wonder. 

"What  is  if?"  asked  Ted,  looking  up  as 
he  placed  the  last  pebble  on  his  ship. 

"This  is  a  letter  from  your  Uncle  Toby," 
said  Mrs.  Martin,  "and  there  is  strange 
news  in  it.  I  wonder  what  it  means  ?  This 
is  very  queer!" 

She  started  to  read  the  letter  again,  but 
at  that  moment  Janet  cried : 

"Oh,  look  at  Trouble!  Just  look  at  him! 
He 's  sailing  away  down  the  brook !  Oh,  he  '11 
be  drowned!" 


CHAPTER  II 

AN  AUTOMOBILE  RIDE 

MRS.  MARTIN  dropped  the  letter  from 
Uncle  Toby.  It  fluttered  to  the  ground  as 
she  hastened  down  the  bank  of  the  brook  in 
which  Trouble  was  sailing  away,  aboard  the 
small  box  he  had  brought  to  play  with  as 
his  "s'ip." 

"William!  William  Anthony  Martin! 
Come  right  back  here!"  called  Mrs.  Martin. 
"Come  back!" 

Poor  William  would  have  been  glad 
enough  to  do  this,  but  he  could  not.  He  had 
stepped  into  the  box,  shoved  it  out  from 
shore  with  a  pole  as  he  had  seen  Janet  poling 
her  tiny  ship  along,  and  then  the  current 
of  the  stream  had  carried  poor  Trouble  away. 
He  was  floating  down  the  brook,  which  was 
quite  deep  in  some  places. 

"Oh,  Trouble!  Trouble!  What  shall  I 
do?"  cried  Ms  mother. 

14 


An  Automobile  Ride  15 

"111  run  up  to  the  house  and  get  the 
rake,  and  we  can  hook  it  on  the  edge  of  his 
box  and  pull  him  out!"  shouted  Janet. 

"Ill  get  him  myself!"  called  Ted,  and, 
not  thinking  that  he  had  on  his  shoes  and 
stockings,  into  the  water  he  dashed,  follow- 
ing after  the  floating  box  in  which  Trouble 
was  riding.  As  for  the  little  fellow  himself, 
he  had  been  overjoyed,  at  first,  when  he 
found  that  he  was  afloat.  But  as  the  water 
came  leaking  through  the  cracks  in  the  box 
Trouble  became  frightened. 

"Oh,  Momsie!  Come  an'  det  me!  Come 
an'  det  me!"  he  wailed. 

"Mother's  coming!"  called  Mrs.  Martin, 
as  she  caught  up  a  long  stick  and,  running 
along  the  edge  of  the  brook,  tried  to  reach 
out  and  hook  it  over  the  side  of  the  box-ship 
in  which  William  was  sailing  away. 

And  while  the  mother,  brother  and  sister 
of  the  little  chap  are  going  to  his  rescue,  I 
will  take  just  a  moment  or  two  and  tell  you 
something  about  the  Martin  children,  and 
why  they  are  called  the  "Curlytops." 

The  reason  for  the  odd,  pretty  name  is  not 
hard  to  find.  It  was  in  their  hair — they  had 
the  cutest,  curliest  curly  hair  that  ever  grew 
on  the  heads  of  any  children  anywhere  in 


16          The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

the  world.  So  it  is  no  wonder  they  were 
called  "Curlytops." 

Some  of  you  were  introduced  to  them  in 
the  first  book  of  this  series,  "The  Curlytops 
at  Cherry  Farm/'  which  told  of  their  ad- 
ventures in  the  country. 

After  that  they  had  more  adventures  on 
"Star  Island,"  where  they  went  camping 
with  Grandpa.  The  fun  on  the  island  was 
wonderful,  but  even  more  wonderful  were 
their  adventures  when  they  were  "Snowed 
In"  and  when  the  Curlytops  went  to  Uncle 
Frank's  ranch,  and  rode  on  ponyback.  Ted, 
Janet  and  Trouble  thought  they  had  never 
seen  such  good  times  in  all  their  lives.  They 
helped  solve  a  strange  mystery,  too. 

The  book  just  before  this  one  that  you  are 
reading  is  named  "The  Curlytops  at  Silver 
Lake,"  and  in  that  you  may  learn  what 
Ted,  Janet  and  Trouble  did  when  they  went 
on  the  water  with  Uncle  Ben,  and  how  they 
helped  capture  some  bad  men. 

The  summer  had  been  filled  with  adven- 
tures, and  there  were  some  good  times  in  the 
winter  that  followed.  Now  it  was  summer 
again,  and  the  Curlytops  were  ready  for 
more  fun. 

Mr.  Richard  Martin  was  the  father  of  the 


An  Automobile  Ride  17 

Cuiiytops.  He  was  a  storekeeper  in  the  city 
of  Cresco,  in  one  of  our  eastern  states.  There 
were  just  three  of  the  Curly  tops,  Theodore 
Baradale,  Janet  and  William  Anthony  Mar- 
tin. But  Theodore  was  nearly  always  called 
Ted  or  Teddy,  Janet's  name  was  shortened 
to  Jan  and  William  answered  to  the  call  of 
Trouble  as  often  as  to  any  other. 

In  addition  to  the  children  there  was  Sky- 
rocket, the  dog,  and  Turnover,  the  cat.  The 
cat  was  called  that  name  because  she  had  a 
trick  of  lying  down  and  rolling  over  when 
she  wanted  something  to  eat.  There  had 
also  been  Mcknack,  a  goat,  and  Clipclap,  a 
pony,  but  these  had  been  sent  away  for  a 
time,  and  the  dog  and  cat  were  the  only  pets 
the  children  had  at  present.  But  they  were 
soon  going  to  have  more,  as  I  will  tell  you 
presently. 

It  was  a  warm,  pleasant,  sunny  day  when 
Ted  and  Jan  went  down  to  the  brook  to  play 
that  pieces  of  boards  were  their  " ships." 
Then  Trouble  had  joined  them,  and,  just 
after  the  mail  carrier  left  the  strange  letter 
from  Uncle  Toby,  Trouble  had,  as  usual,  got- 
ten into  trouble. 

Janet  and  Teddy  were  not  quite  certain 
who  Uncle  Toby  might  be.  They  had  heard 


18         The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

of  him,  once  or  twice,  as  a  distant  relative  of 
their  father  or  their  mother,  but  they  had 
not  seen  him  in  a  number  of  years.  They 
only  dimly  remembered  him  as  an  old  man 
who  lived  in  a  city  about  fifty  miles  from 
Cresco,  but  they  had  not  visited  him  in  some 
time. 

Just  now  the  plight  of  Trouble  so  filled 
the  minds  of  Ted  and  Jan  that  they  had  no 
thought  for  Uncle  Toby  or  his  strange  letter. 
Nor  did  Mrs.  Martin  give  any  heed  to  the 
missive  she  had  dropped. 

"Be  careful,  Teddy!"  she  called,  as  she 
saw  her  older  son  splashing  his  way  through 
the  water.  "Don't  fall!" 

"I— I  won't,  Mother!  Not  if —if  I— I  can 
help — -" 

But  just  as  Teddy  got  that  far  he  stumbled 
on  a  round  stone  in  the  brook,  and  down  he 
went  with  a  splash ! 

"Oh,  he'll  be  drowned!"  screamed  Janet, 
who  was  following  her  mother  along  the  bank 
of  the  brook,  while  Trouble  was  out  in  the 
middle  in  his  leaking,  packing-box  ship  that 
Skyrocket  had  pulled  to  the  stream  for  him. 
The  dog,  who  had  found  the  stick  which 
Teddy  threw,  had  rushed  back,  and  was  now 
barking  as  loudly  as  he  could. 


An  Automobile  Ride  19 

But  the  water  was  not  deep  enough  to 
drown  Teddy.  It,  however,  made  him  very 
wet.  Up  he  rose,  dripping  all  over,  and 
gasping  for  breath. 

Mrs.  Martin  paused  only  long  enough  to 
look  back  and  see  that  Teddy  was  all  right, 
and  then  hurried  along,  trying  to  pull  to- 
ward her,  with  the  long  stick,  the  floating 
box  and  her  little  son. 

"Det  me  out !  Det  me  out !  I  is  all  wet — 
I  is ! ' '  cried  Trouble.  ' '  My  hoots  is  all  wet  I ' ' 
Sometimes  the  letter  "f  "  bothered  him,  and 
he  put  an  "h"  in  its  place,  as  saying  "hoots" 
for  "foots."  Of  course  neither  word  was 
right,  but  who  minded  a  thing  like  that  when 
poor  Trouble  was  in  such  a  plight  ? 

"I'll  get  him!"  cried  Teddy,  as  he  caught 
his  breath.  Then  he  wiped  some  of  the  water 
from  his  face,  and  dashed  on  down  the  brook. 
But  by  this  time  the  packing  box,  in  which 
Trouble  was  taking  more  of  a  ride  than  he 
had  counted  on,  was  some  distance  down  the 
brook.  However,  Mrs.  Martin  was  keeping 
alongside  of  it,  though  it  was  beyond  even  the 
reach  of  her  long  stick. 

"If  we  were  on  the  other  side  you  could 
reach  him  and  pull  him  to  shore,  Mother!" 
called  Janet. 


20          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"Oh,  I  must  get  over  on  the  other  side — 
but  the  brook  is  deep  here  I"  said  Mrs.  Mar- 
tin. She  was  going  to  forget  that,  however, 
and  splash  in,  when  the  box,  by  some  twist 
of  the  current,  suddenly  floated  near  the 
bank  along  which  she  was  running. 

"Grab  it — quick !"  cried  Janet. 

"Let  me  get  it — I'm  coming!"  shouted 
Teddy,  and,  indeed,  he  was  splashing  his 
way  down  the  brook,  but  some  distance  be- 
hind his  little  brother. 

' '  Oh,  det  me  out !  My  hoots  is  awful  wet  I ' ' 
wailed  the  small  chap  in  the  packing-box 
boat. 

And  just  then  Mrs.  Martin  was  able  to 
reach  out  her  stick,  hook  one  end  of  it  over 
the  edge  of  the  box  and  pull  it  to  shore. 

"You  poor  little  fellow!  Was  mother's 
Trouble  frightened  to  pieces?"  murmured 
Mrs.  Martin  as  she  lifted  her  youngest  out 
of  the  box,  and,  never  minding  his  wet  feet, 
hugged  him  tightly.  The  packing  box 
drifted  off  downstream,  Skyrocket  racing 
after  it  and  barking  as  though  it  was  the 
best  joke  in  the  world.  "Were  you  fright- 
ened, William'?"  murmured  his  mother. 

Trouble  looked  at  her,  and  then  at  the 
floating  box. 


An  Automobile  Ride  21 

"I  had  a  nice  wide,  but  my  hoots  is  all 
wet/'  he  announced. 

"I  should  say  they  were!"  laughed  Janet, 
feeling  them.  "They're  soaking  wet!  But 
you're  all  right  now,  Trouble!" 

"And  I'm  wet,  too,"  said  Teddy,  coming 
along  just  then. 

Together  they  walked  back  along  the  edge 
of  the  brook,  Skyrocket  following  when  he 
found  that  no  one  was  going  to  help  him 
play  with  the  empty  box,  which  floated 
ashore  near  the  dam  Teddy  had  made. 

As  she  passed  the  place  where  she  had 
dropped  Uncle  Toby's  letter  Mrs.  Martin 
picked  up  the  fluttering  paper. 

"I  nearly  forgot  all  about  this,"  she  said. 
"Your  father  will  want  to  know  about  it. 
I  never  heard  anything  so  strange  in  all  my 
life." 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Teddy. 

"I'll  tell  you  when  you  have  dry  clothes 
on,  and  we  can  sit  down  and  talk  it  over," 
his  mother  promised. 

And  when  Trouble,  smiling  and  happy, 
with  a  picture  book  in  his  hands  and  dry 
shoes  and  stockings  on  his  feet,  was  safe  in  a 
chair,  and  when  Janet  and  Teddy  sat  near 
her,  Mrs.  Martin  read  the  letter  again. 


22          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"It  is  from  Uncle  Toby  Bardeen  of  Po- 
cono,"  said  the  mother  of  the  Curlytops. 
"At  least  he  is  your  father's  uncle,  but  that 
doesn't  matter.  He  is  an  old  bachelor,  and 
lives  with  a  distant  relative,  a  Mrs.  Watson, 
in  an  old,  rambling  house." 

"Does  he  want  us  to  come  there  for  the 
summer  vacation?"  asked  Janet.  It  was 
time,  so  she  and  Ted  thought,  to  begin  think- 
ing of  the  summer  fun. 

"No,  Uncle  Toby  doesn't  say  that,"  went 
on  Mother  Martin,  as  she  glanced  over  the 
pages  of  the  letter.  "What  he  wants  is  for 
your  father  to  go  and  take  charge  of  every- 
thing that  is  in  the  old  house — everything, 
that  is,  except  the  housekeeper,  Mrs.  Wat- 
son. She  is  going  off  by  herself,  Uncle  Toby 
says." 

"Is  Uncle  Toby — is  he — dead,  that  he 
wants  daddy  to  take  everything  in  his 
house?"  asked  Janet. 

"Course  not!  How  could  he  be  dead  and 
write  this  letter?"  asked  Ted. 

"Well,  maybe  he  wrote  it  before  he  died," 
Janet  suggested. 

"No,  Uncle  Toby  isn't  dead,  I'm  glad  to 
say,"  remarked  Mrs.  Martin.  "But  he  is 
going  away  on  a  long  voyage  for  his  health, 


An  Automobile  Ride  23 

he  writes,  and  he  wants  daddy  to  come  and 
take  charge  of  everything  in  the  old  man- 
sion. " 

"Do  you  s'pose  there's  a  gun  there  I  could 
have  ?"  asked  Teddy  hopefully, 

"I'd  like  an  old-fashioned  spinning 
wheel,"  said  Janet.  "Is  there  one  of  those, 
Mother?" 

"I  wants  suffin'  to  eat!"  announced 
Trouble  suddenly,  but  wheth'er  he  thought 
it  was  to  be  had  at  Uncle  Toby's  house  or 
not,  it  is  hard  to  say. 

Teddy  and  Janet  laughed,  and  Trouble 
looked  at  them  with  wondering  eyes. 

"You  shall  have  something  to  eat,  love!" 
his  mother  murmured.  "I  guess  your  voy- 
age in  the  packing-box  ship  made  you  hun- 
gry." 

"Do  you  s'pose  Uncle  Toby  would  have 
a  gun?"  asked  Ted  again. 

"If  there  is  one  in  his  house  you  can't 
have  it,  my  dear,"  objected  Mrs.  Martin. 

"But  I  could  have  the  spinning  wheel, 
couldn't  I?"  asked  Janet. 

"Yes,  I  suppose  so.  But  maybe  there 
isn't  one,"  her  mother  answered. 

"If  there  is  we  can  play  steamboat !"  cried 
Ted,  getting  quickly  over  his  disappoint- 


24          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

ment  about  a  possible  gun.  "A  spinning 
wheel  is  just  the  thing  to  steer  a  make-believe 
steamer  with!" 

"You're  not  going  to  have  my  spinning 
wheel  for  your  old  steamboat!"  declared 
Janet. 

"Hush,  children!"  their  mother  warned 
them.  "I  haven't  the  least  idea  what  is  in 
Uncle  Toby's  house,  that  he  should  be  so 
mysterious  about  it,  and  be  in  such  a  hurry 
for  your  father  to  come  and  take  charge." 

"Is  Uncle  Toby  mysterious?"  asked 
Janet. 

"Well,  yes.  He  says  he  hopes  the  collec- 
tion will  not  be  too  much  for  us  to  manage," 
went  on  Mrs.  Martin,  with  another  look  at 
the  letter. 

"A  collection  of  what?"  Ted  wanted  to 
know. 

"That's  just  it— Uncle  Toby  doesn't  say," 
his  mother  replied.  "We  shall  have  to  wait 
until  your  father  makes  the  trip  to  Pocono." 

"Oh,  may  we  go?"  begged  the  two  Curly- 
tops  at  once. 

"We'll  see!"  was  the  way  in  which  Mrs. 
Martin  put  them  off.  "I  wish  your  father 
were  here  so  we  could  talk  over  this  queer 
letter  from  Uncle  Toby." 


An  Automobile  Ride  25 

"I  wis'— I  wis'  I  had  suffin'  t'  eat!"  put 
in  Trouble  wistfully. 

"And  so  you  shall  have,  darling!"  ex- 
claimed his  mother.  "It  is  nearly  time  for 
lunch,  and  daddy  will  soon  be  here.  Then 
we'll  see  what  he  says." 

And  what  Mr.  Martin  said  after,  at  the 
lunch  table,  he  had  read  Uncle  Toby's  let- 
ter was : 

"Hum!" 

"What  do  you  think  of  it?"  asked  his 
wife. 

"I  think  it's  as  queer  as  he  is,"  said  the 
father  of  the  Curlytops,  smiling.  "Uncle 
Toby  is  a  dear  old  man,  but  very  queer.  So 
he  wants  me  to  come  and  take  charge  of  his 
'collection,'  does  he?  It's  strange  that  he 
doesn't  say  what  his  collection  is." 

"Maybe  it's  postage  stamps,"  suggested 
Ted.  Once  he  had  started  to  make  a  collec- 
tion like  that  but  he  had  given  it  up. 

"And  maybe  it's  a  collection  of — money !" 
said  Janet. 

"That  would  be  very  fine!"  laughed  her 
father.  "But  though  Uncle  Toby  is  well  off, 
I  hardly  think  he  has  a  collection  of  money 
lying  around  his  old  mansion.  However,  I 
suppose  I  must  go  and  see  what  it  is  the 


26          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

queer  fellow  wants  me  to  take  charge  of  for 
him." 

"May  we  go?"  chorused  Ted  and  Janet 
again. 

"Oh,  I  suppose  so,"  agreed  their  father, 
and  this  was  better  than  the  "111  see,"  of 
their  mother. 

"Me  turn,  too!"  declared  Trouble.  He 
never  wanted  to  be  left  behind. 

"We'll  all  take  an  auto  trip  over  to  Po- 
cono  to-morrow  and  see  what  Uncle  Toby 
has,"  decided  Mr.  Martin. 

Accordingly,  the  next  day,  Mr.  Martin 
left  his  manager  in  charge  of  the  store,  and, 
in  the  comfortable  family  automobile,  the 
Curlytops  and  their  father,  mother  and 
Trouble — not  forgetting  Skyrocket,  the  dog 
— started  on2. 

It  was  just  as  fine  a  day  as  the  previous 
one,  when  Trouble  had  sailed  down  the 
brook.  The  grass  was  green,  the  birds  sang, 
and  the  wind  blew  gently  in  the  trees. 

"Oh,  it's  summer,  and  there's  no  school 
and  we'll  have  lots  of  fun!"  sang  Janet. 

"Maybe  we'll  have  fun  with  what  we  find 
at  Uncle  Toby's  house,"  suggested  Ted. 

And  neither  of  the  Curlytops  realized  how 


TAn  Automobile  Ride  27 

much  fun  nor  what  strange  adventures  were 
in  store  for  them. 

The  automobile  started  down  a  rather 
steep  hill,  and  Mrs.  Martin,  who  was  on  the 
front  seat  with  her  husband,  looked  back  to 
see  that  the  three  children  were  safe. 

"Hold  on  to  Trouble !"  she  told  Janet. 
"He  might  bounce  out.  The  road  is  very 
rough!" 

"Yes,  it  isn't  very  safe,  either,"  mur- 
mured Mr.  Martin.  "I  hope  nothing  hap- 
pens." 

Hardly  had  he  spoken  than  there  was  a 
loud  bang  close  behind  him.  He  jammed  on 
the  brakes  and  cried: 

<  <  ijijre  >s  kurst  t    Hold  tight — everybody ! ' ' 

Then  the  automobile  slid  over  to  one  side 
of  the  road  and  Janet  cried : 

"Oh,  Trouble!    Trouble  I"- 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  QUEER  OLD  LADY 

FOR  a  little  while  it  seemed  as  though 
something  serious  had  happened  in  the  auto- 
mobile which  was  taking  the  Curlytops  to 
Uncle  Toby's  house.  Mr.  Martin  had  all  he 
could  do  to  slow  up  the  machine,  bringing 
it  to  a  stop  beside  the  road,  and  under  a  tree. 
If  a  tire  had  burst  or  been  punctured  Daddy 
Martin  wanted  to  be  in  the  shade  to  fix  it. 

Mother  Martin,  holding  tightly  to  the  side 
of  the  seat  when  the  banging  noise  sounded, 
turned  to  look  behind  her  to  see  if  the  three 
children  were  all  right.  She  saw  Trouble 
sitting  between  Ted  and  Janet,  and  William 
was  looking  at  something  in  his  chubby 
hand. 

"What  happened?"  asked  Mrs.  Martin. 
' <  Were  any  of  you  hurt  when  the  tire  burst  ? ' ' 

' '  The  tire  didn't  burst,  Mother, ' '  answered 
Teddy. 

28 


29 


"Why,  I  heard  it,"  said  Mr.  Martin,  as 
he  prepared  to  get  out  of  the  machine,  which 
had  now  come  to  a  stop.  "I  must  have  run 
over  a  sharp  stone  or  a  broken  bottle." 

"No,  it  wasn't  the  tire,"  said  Janet,  and 
she  laughed.  "It  was  Trouble's  toy  balloon. 
He  blew  it  up  too  big  and  it  burst." 

"That's  what  it  was!  And  a  piece  of  the 
rubber  hit  me  in  the  eye!"  laughed  Ted. 

"My  'loon  all  gone!"  wailed  William. 

"So  that's  what  it  was — a  burst  toy  bal- 
loon, ' '  said  Daddy  Martin.  "Well,  I'm  glad 
it  wasn't  one  of  my  tires." 

"So  am  I,"  said  Mother  Martin.  "It  is 
too  hot  to  have  to  change  a  tire  to-day.  Be- 
sides, I'm  in  a  hurry  to  get  to  Uncle  Toby's 
and  see  what  it  is  he  wants  us  to  take  charge 
of  while  he  is  away.  I  hope  he  doesn't  go 
until  we  get  there." 

"You  never  can  tell  what  Uncle  Toby  is 
going  to  do,"  said  Mr.  Martin,  smiling,  now 
that  he  knew  he  had  no  tire  to  change.  "And 
so  you  burst  your  toy  balloon,  did  you, 
Trouble  ?  Well,  I'll  have  to  get  you  another, 
but  not  while  we're  on  this-  auto  ride.  I 
don't  want  to  be  frightened  again,  and  I 
might  be  if  you  blew  up  another  balloon  and 
it  burst." 


30         The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"I  didn't  know  he  had  one  with  him/'  re- 
marked Mrs.  Martin,  as  Trouble  looked  sadly 
at  what  was  left  of  his  toy. 

"I  didn't  either,"  Janet  said.  "All  of  a 
sudden  he  took  it  out  of  his  pocket  and  be- 
gan to  blow  it  up." 

"I  was  makin'  be 'eve  it  were  a  wed  soap 
bubbles,"  explained  Trouble. 

"Well,  soap  bubbles  or  not,  it  burst,"  said 
Teddy.  "It  sure  did  make  a  noise !  But  now 
we  can  go  on.  I  want  to  see  if  Uncle  Toby 
is  going  to  leave  any  guns." 

"And  I  want  a  spinning  wheel,"  Janet 
murmured.  "But  you  can't  take  it  to  play 
steamboat  with,"  she  told  her  brother. 

"I  shan't  want  it  if  I  have  a  gun!"  re- 
torted Ted. 

"Now,  children,  be  nice,"  begged  their 
mother. 

Daddy  Martin  started  the  automobile 
again,  first  getting  out  to  look  at  the  four 
tires,  to  make  sure  none  was  flat,  punctured 
or  burst.  They  were  all  round,  plump  and 
as  fat  as  big  bologna  sausages. 

"Now  we  go  to  Uncle  Toby.  Maybe  I  get 
a  kittie  cat!"  said  Trouble,  when  he  decided 
to  smile  after  feeling  so  bad  about  his  burst 
balloon. 


The  Queer  Old  Lady  31 


. . 


'A  kittle  cat!"  exclaimed  Janet.  "Why, 
we  have  a  lovely  cat,  Trouble.  Don't  you 
like  Turnover?" 

"Yep !  But  I  'ikes  a  kittie  cat,  too.  May- 
be Uncle  Toby  hab  one  for  me!" 

"Probably  Uncle  Toby  is  too  old  a  man  to 
bother  with  pet  cats,"  said  Mrs.  Martin. 

But  it  only  goes  to  show  that  you  never 
know  what  is  going  to  happen  in  this  world 
— sometimes  you  don't  even  know  what  you 
are  going  to  have  for  dinner. 

Along  rolled  the  automobile,  taking  the 
Curlytops  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  city  of 
Pocono,  where  Uncle  Toby  lived  with  his 
housekeeper,  Mrs.  Watson.  But  it  was 
rather  a  long  ride,  and,  about  half  way,  the 
party  stopped  in  a  little  village  for  lunch. 

"Did  we  bring  any  lunch  with  us,  or  are 
we  going  in  a  place  to  eat*?"  asked  Ted. 

"Oh,  I  hope  we  go  in  a  place  to  eat!"  ex- 
claimed Janet.  "I  like  a  restaurant,  don't 
you,  Ted?" 

"Sure!"  answered  the  Curlytop  boy. 

"Yes,  we  are  going  to  a  restaurant,"  his 
mother  told  them.  "Daddy  wants  to  get 
some  oil  and  gasoline  for  the  auto,  too." 

"It's  sort  of  feeding  the  auto,  isn't  it, 
Mother?"  asked  Janet,  as  they  alighted. 


32          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"In  a  way,  yes,"  admitted  Mrs.  Martin. 

A  little  later  the  Curlytops  were  having 
a  fine  meal,  and  when  I  say  the  Curlytops  I 
mean  also  Daddy  and  Mother  Martin,  and 
Trouble.  The  hair  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martin 
did  not  curl,  though  it  must  have  done  so 
when  they  were  younger ;  or  else  how  would 
Ted  and  Janet  have  had  such  beautiful  ring- 
lets? Nor  did  Trouble's  hair  curl,  though 
when  he  was  smaller  his  mother  used  to  wind 
little  ringlets  around  her  finger,  hoping  he 
would  have  locks  as  pretty  as  those  of  Janet 
and  Ted.  But,  really,  the  older  boy  and  girl 
were  the  only  ones  who  could,  truly,  be  called 
Curlytops,  though  I  sometimes  speak  of  the 
"Curlytop  family." 

So  you  know,  when  I  say  that  the  "Curly- 
tops"  were  eating  lunch,  that  all  five  of  them 
were  enjoying  their  meal.  There  were  sev- 
eral things  that  Janet,  Teddy  and  Trouble 
liked  to  eat,  and  toward  the  end  of  the  meal 
there  was  a  piece  of  pie  for  each  of  them. 
And  it  was  toward  the  end  of  the  meal  that 
something  happened,  and  Trouble,  as  usual, 
was  the  cause  of  it. 

Just  before  the  waiter  had  brought  the  pie 
there  had  sounded,  out  in  the  street,  the 
music  of  a  hand  organ.  No  sooner  had  he 


The  Queer  Old  Lady 33 

heard  this  than  Trouble  slipped  from  his 
chair  (where  he  had  been  sitting  on  a  hassock 
to  make  him  higher)  and  ran  to  the  window. 

"No  monkey!"  called  out  the  little  fellow, 
after  he  had  stood  for  a  moment  with  his 
nose  pressed  against  the  pane  of  glass,  mak- 
ing his  "  smeller, "  as  he  sometimes  called  it, 
quite  flat.  "Hand-organ  grinder  got  no 
monkey!" 

Trouble  was  disappointed.  He  had  hoped 
to  see  a  little  monkey  scrambling  around  to 
gather  pennies  in  his  cap.  But  this  hand- 
organ  player  did  not  have  any.  And  there 
was  nothing  much  for  Trouble  to  see.  So 
the  little  fellow  came  back  to  the  table,  but 
not  before  he  had  stopped  at  the  big  water- 
cooler  in  one  corner  of  the  dining  room. 
Trouble  paused  to  watch  a  waiter  turn  the 
shiny  little  faucet  and  draw  a  glass  of  water 
for  a  customer. 

"Come  and  get  your  pie,  William,"  Ms 
mother  called  to  hiirK  She  very  seldom  men- 
tioned him  as  "Trouble,"  before  strangers. 
So  this  time  Mrs.  Martin  called  her  little  boy 
by  his  right  name. 

"Do  you  want  me  to  eat  your  pie  ?"  teased 
Ted. 

"No!    I  eat  my  own  pie!"  Trouble  ex- 


34          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

claimed,  and  he  climbed  up  into  his  chair, 
being  helped  by  his  father,  next  to  whom  he 
sat. 

The  meal  was  almost  over,  and  Daddy 
Martin  was  wondering  what  his  Uncle  Toby 
could  want  him  to  take  charge  of,  when  Mrs. 
Martin  gave  a  sudden  start,  a  sort  of  shiver, 
and  said : 

"Why,  my  feet  are  getting  wet  I" 

"Your  feet  wet!"  exclaimed  her  husband. 
"Surely  it  isn't  raining  in  here!  It  isn't 
even  raining  outside!"  he  laughed,  as  he 
looked  from  a  window. 

"But  my  feet  are  damp,"  went  on  Mrs. 
Martin.  Then  she  raised  the  cloth,  which 
hung  down  rather  low  on  each  side  of  the 
table,  and  glanced  at  the  floor.  "There's 
a  big  puddle  of  water  under  our  table !"  she 
cried. 

Then  Ted  looked  over  toward  the  big 
water-cooler  in  one  corner  of  the  restaurant. 

"Somebody  left  the  faucet  open!"  cried 
Teddy.  "The  ice  water  is  all  running  out! 
No  wonder  your  feet  are  wet,  Mother!" 

Mr.  Martin  hastily  left  his  chair  and 
turned  off  the  faucet,  and,  as  he  did  so,  he 
looked  at  Trouble.  Something  in  the  face 


The  Queer  Old  Lady  35 

of  that  youngster  caused  Daddy  Martin  to 
ask: 

" William,  did  you  do  that?" 

"I — I  dess  maybe  I  turned  it  on  a  'ittle 
bit!"  confessed  the  mischievous  one. 

"A  little  bit!"  cried  Janet,  as  she  looked 
under  the  table.  "Why,  there's  almost  as 
much  water  as  there  is  in  our  brook  at 
home!" 

"Oh,  not  quite  so  much,"  said  her  mother 
gently.  "Though  there  is  enough  to  have 
wet  through  the  soles  of  my  shoes.  I  was 
wondering  why  my  feet  felt  so  damp  and 
cold.  And  did  Trouble  turn  on  the  water? 
Oh,  Trouble!" 

All  eyes  gazed  at  the  little  fellow,  and  he 
seemed  to  think  he  should  explain  what  he 
had  done. 

"I  'ist  turned  de  handle  a  teeny  bit,"  he 
said,  "to  make  a  'ittle  water  come  out.  Anr 
den  I  fordot  'bout  it!" 

That  was  just  what  he  had  done.  Seeing 
the  waiter  draw  a  glass  of  water  from  the 
cooler  had  given  Trouble  the  idea  that  he 
soon  afterward  carried  out.  When  he  saw 
no  monkey  with  the  hand  organ,  the  little 
fellow  had  gone  back  to  his  seat  and,  on  the 
way,  opened  the  faucet  so  that  the  water  ran 


36         The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

out  in  a  little  stream.  Soon  the  drip-pan 
was  full  and  then  the  water  began  trickling 
over  the  floor.  No  one  noticed  it  until  it  had 
made  a  little  puddle  under  the  table,  just  at 
the  point  where  Mrs.  Martin's  feet  were. 

"Oh,  Trouble!  what  will  you  do  next?" 
sighed  the  little  fellow's  mother. 

1 1  No  harm  done  at  all !  None  whatever  I ' ' 
said  the  waiter,  coming  up  to  the  table  smil- 
ing. "That  little  water  on  the  floor  I  will 
wipe  up  so  quick  you  will  never  see  it." 

"No,  it  won't  hurt  the  floor  much,"  Mr. 
Martin  said.  "And  I  suppose  your  shoes 
will  dry  out, ' '  he  told  his  wife.  "But,  all  the 
same,  William  should  not  have  done  it." 

"I  won't  do  it  any  more,"  said  the  little 
fellow.  "I  be  good  now!  I  sorry!" 

He  generally  was  when  he  had  done  some- 
thing like  that.  However,  as  the  waiter  had 
said,  little  real  harm  was  done,  and  Mrs. 
Martin's  shoes  would  dry,  for  it  was  a  hot, 
summer  day. 

The  meal  was  finished  and  they  all  took 
their  places  in  the  automobile  again  to  finish 
the  ride  to  Uncle  Toby's  place,  about  twenty 
miles  farther  on. 

Once  again  Trouble,  Ted  and  Janet  sat  in 
the  rear  seat,  while  their  father  and  mother 


The  Queer  Old  Lady  37 

rode  in  front.  And  this  time  Trouble  had  no 
red  balloon  which  he  could  blow  up,  making 
it  burst  with  a  noise  like  a  punctured  tire. 
The  children  talked  among  themselves,  won- 
dering over  and  over  again  what  it  could  be 
that  Uncle  Toby  wanted  their  father  to  come 
and  take  charge  of. 

"Maybe  he's  got  a  little  boy  or  a  girl  from 
an  orphan  asylum,  and  he  wants  us  to  take  it 
to  live  with  us,"  suggested  Janet. 

"A  boy  would  be  all  right,"  decided  Ted, 
as  he  thought  of  this.  "I  could  have  fun 
with  another  fellow." 

"And  I'd  like  a  girl,"  said  Janet.  "I  al- 
ways wished  I  had  a  sister." 

"Maybe  they're  twins — a  boy  and  a  girl," 
Ted  went  on.  "That  would  be  fun!" 

"What  would  be  fun?"  asked  his  mother 
from  the  front  seat,  where  she  had  heard  the 
talk  of  the  children.  She  often  asked  a  ques- 
tion like  this,  as  it  sometimes  stopped  a  bit 
of  mischief  that,  otherwise,  might  happen. 
"What  fun  are  you  talking  about?"  asked 
Mrs.  Martin. 

"Uncle  Toby,"  answered  Janet.  "I 
thought  maybe  what  he  wanted  daddy  to  take 
charge  of  was  a  little  orphan  girl." 


38          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"And  I  thought  maybe  it  was  a  boy," 
added  Ted. 

"And  then  we  both  though  maybe  it  was 
twins — a  boy  and  a  girl,  and  we'd  each  have 
someone  to  play  with,"  went  on  Janet. 

"My!  I  don't  believe  Uncle  Toby  has 
adopted  any  orphan  children  that  he  wants 
us  to  take,"  Mrs.  Martin  said.  "I  can't  im- 
agine what  he  really  has,  but  we'll  soon  find 
out." 

On  and  on  they  rode  in  the  automobile, 
until,  after  a  while,  they  reached  the  small 
city  of  Pocono  and,  a  little  later,  they  pulled 
up  in  front  of  Uncle  Toby's  house.  It  was  a 
rambling,  old  mansion  that  once  had  looked 
very  nice,  but  now  it  was  rather  shabby  and 
needed  painting. 

"Here  is  where  Uncle  Toby  lives,"  said 
Daddy  Martin.  "Do  you  children  remem- 
ber it?" 

"A  little,"  admitted  Ted.  Neither  he  nor 
Janet  had  been  there  in  years,  and  Trouble 
had  never  visited  Uncle  Toby. 

"I  wonder  if  he's  at  home,"  went  on 
Daddy  Martin,  as  he  alighted  from  the  auto- 
mobile. 

"There's  someone  on  the  porch,"  said 
Mrs.  Martin.  "Oh,  it's  Mrs.  Watson,  the 


The  Queer  Old  Lady  39 

housekeeper,"  she  added.  "But  something 
seems  to  be  the  matter !  I  wonder  what  can 
have  happened?" 

As  Mother  Martin  spoke  a  queer  little 
old  lady  came  down  off  the  porch  and  along 
the  walk,  hurrying  out  to  meet  the  Curly- 
tops,  all  of  whom  were  now  at  the  front  gate. 

' t  Wait  I  Don  't  go  in !  Don 't  go  in ! "  cried" 
the  queer  old  lady,  holding  up  her  hand  like 
a  traffic  policeman  stopping  a  fast  automo- 
bile. "Don't  go  in!  They're  having  a  ter- 
rible time!  Oh,  that  Mr.  Bardeen  ever 
should  have  gone  away  and  left  me  to  look 
after  'em!  Oh,  the  trouble  I  have  had! 
Such  trouble !  Don 't  go  in !  Listen  to  ?em ! ' ' 

As  she  spoke  there  came  strange  sounds 
from  the  grim  old  house  where  Uncle  Toby 
lived!  Very  strange  sounds! 


CHAPTER  IV 

UNCLE  TOBY'S  PETS 

to  that  noise  I"  called  Teddy, 
pausing  with  his  hand  on  the  gate  that  led 
into  Uncle  Toby 's  yard.  1 1  It 's  two  boys  hav- 
ing fun.  I  guess  Uncle  Toby  left  two  fel- 
lows that  you  can  take  home  and  I  can  have 
fun  with/'  Teddy  added  laughingly  to  his 
father. 

"Two  boys!  Oh,  my  goodness!"  ex- 
claimed Mrs.  Martin. 

Just  then  a  shrill  scream  sounded  from 
within  the  queer,  old  house. 

"It's  girls!"  said  Janet.  "Girls  cry  just 
like  that  when  they're  having  fun !  Oh,  I'll 
be  glad  to  have  a  sister  to  play  with!" 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martin  looked  at  each  other 
in  surprise  and  wonderment.  What  could 
it  mean?  The  queer,  little  old  lady — Mrs. 
Watson,  the  housekeeper — murmured  again : 

"Listen  to  'em!    I  can't  do  a  thing  with 

40 


Uncle  Toby's  Pets 41 

'em  since  TJncle  Toby  went  away.  I'm  so 
glad  you  came  to  take  charge  of  'em  as  he 
asked  you  to.  You  did  come  for  that,  didn't 
you?"  she  asked  eagerly.  "You  got  Uncle 
Toby's  letter,  asking  you  to  come  and  take 
charge  of  the  collection  he  left,  didn't  you?" 
"Oh,  yes,"  answered  the  father  of  the 
Curlytops.  "We  got  Uncle  Toby's  letter  all 
right,  and  we  came  to  take  charge.  But 


"We'd  like  to  know  what  we  are  going  to 
take!"  interrupted  Mrs.  Martin.  She  felt 
she  must  say  something,  with  all  those  queer 
noises  going  on  in  the  house. 

"Maybe  it's  babies!"  suggested  Trouble, 
as  he  listened  to  what  seemed  to  be  a  crying 
sound  from  the  old  mansion. 

"They're  worse  than  babies!"  declared 
Mrs.  Watson.  "I  don't  mind  children  and 
babies.  But  these  things  make  so  much  noise 
I  can't  hear  myself  think.  That's  why  I 
came  out  on  the  steps  to  sit  down  and  be 
quiet!  Oh,  I'm  so  glad  you've  come  to  take 
charge  of  'em!" 

"But  what  are  they?  You  haven't  told 
us  what  they  are,"  said  Mr.  Martin,  as  the 
screeching,  yelling  noises  kept  on  sounding 


42          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

from  within  the  house.     "Do  they  always 
screech  like  that?" 

"Only  when  they're  hungry,"  said  the 
queer  old  lady.  "And  I  expect  they're  hun- 
gry now.  I  just  hate  to  go  in  to  feed  them, 
they  make  such  a  fuss,  and  I'm  afraid  some 
of  'em  will  bite  me.  Not  on  purpose  you 
know,"  she  quickly  added,  "but  just  because 
they're  so  playful  and  full  of  fun." 

"My  dear  Mrs.  Watson,"  said  Mr.  Martin 
in  slow  tones,  "will  you  please  tell  us  what 
it  is  my  Uncle  Toby  has  left  for  me  to  take 
charge  of !  Is  it  an  insane  asylum  ?" 

"Yes,  for  goodness'  sake,  please  tell  us!" 
begged  the  mother  of  the  Curlytops. 

"Why,  I  thought  you  knew ! ' '  replied  Mrs. 
Watson,  in  some  surprise.  "Didn't  Uncle 
Toby  speak  of  them  in  his  letter?" 

"No,  he  did  not  say  what  they  were,"  an- 
swered Mr.  Martin.  "He  only  mentioned  a 
collection.  Please  tell  us.  What  is  making 
all  that  racket?" 

"Uncle  Toby's  pets,"  was  the  answer. 
"Uncle  Toby  said  he  was  going  to  leave 
them  to  you  when  he  went  away  on  a  long 
trip.  He  may  be  gone  for  several  years,  and 
he  said  he  might  live  the  rest  of  his  life  in 
South  America,  where  he  is  going.  So  he 


Uncle  Toby's  Pets 43 

told  me  to  give  you  his  pets  to  take  charge 
of.  You  are  to  take  them,  and  do  as  you 
please  with  them,  though  I  guess  Uncle  Toby 
would  like  to  have  you  keep  them  and  be 
kind  to  them." 

" Uncle  Toby's  pets!"  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Martin. 

"Is  there  a  dog?"  asked  Teddy,  his  eyes 
shining  in  delight.  "Won't  Skyrocket  be 
glad?  Do  you  hear  that,  old  fellow?"  went 
on  Teddy,  leaning  down  to  pet  the  dog  that 
had  jumped  from  the  automobile  and  was 
looking  as  if  in  wonder  at  the  house  whence 
came  such  strange  noises.  "You're  going  to 
have  another  dog  to  play  with.  Uncle  Toby 
did  leave  a  dog,  didn't  he?"  Teddy  asked  of 
Mrs.  "Watson.  "I  hear  a  dog  barking  in  the 
house." 

"A  dog!"  exclaimed  the  queer  little  old 
housekeeper.  "He  left  two  dogs,  Uncle 
Toby  did!" 

"Two  dogs!"  murmured  Mrs.  Martin, 
with  a  hopeless  look  at  her  husband. 

"Did  he  leave  a  cat?"  asked  Janet.  "I 
thought  I  heard  one  mewing.  And  Turn- 
over would  like  another  cat  to  play  with." 

"Yes,  Uncle  Toby  left  you  a  cat,  also," 
said  Mrs.  Watson. 


44          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

Just  then  shrill  screams,  barks,  squeaks 
and  squawks,  all  mixed  together,  seemed  to 
float  out  of  the  opened  windows  of  the  old 
house — windows  in  which  were  strong  wire 
screens. 

"Two  dogs  and  a  cat!"  exclaimed  Mr. 
Martin.  "My  dear  Mrs.  Watson,"  he  went 
on,  as  he  sat  down  on  the  top  step  of  the 
porch  rather  limply,  "will  you  please  tell 
us,  as  fast  as  you  can,  just  how  many  and 
what  pets  Uncle  Toby  has  left  us  ?  We  may 
as  well  hear  the  worst  at  once,"  he  said  to 
his  wife.  "I  never  imagined  Uncle  Toby 
cared  for  animal  pets." 

"Oh,  indeed  he  did,"  replied  Mrs.  Wat- 
son. "Of  late  years  he  grew  very  fond  of 
animals.  All  his  pets  are  animals,  and  he'd 
have  gotten  more  only  I  said  I  wouldn't  stay 
and  keep  house  for  him  if  he  brought  in 
what  he  spoke  of  last." 

"What  was  that?"  Mrs.  Martin  wanted 
to  know. 

"Snakes!"  declared  the  little  old  lady. 
"I  don't  mind  monkeys  and  parrots  so 
much,  but  I  can't  bear  snakes!  They  give 
me  the  shivers,  though  Uncle  Toby  said  some 
snakes  do  a  lot  of  good  in  this  world,  by 


Uncle  Toby's  Pets 45 

catching  rats  and  mice.  But  he  didn't  bring 
in  any  snakes!" 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  he  has  a  parrot?" 
asked  Mr.  Martin. 

"Don't  you  hear  him?"  questioned  Mrs. 
Watson.  "Listen!" 

As  she  finished  speaking  the  Curlytops 
heard  a  shrill : 

* t  Cracker !  Cracker !  Give  Polly  a  crack- 
crack-cracker!" 

"Oh,  it  is  a  parrot!"  cried  Janet  in  de- 
light. 

"And  is  there  a  monkey,  too?"  demanded 
Ted. 

"An'  a  han'  ordan!  Is  dere  a  han'  or- 
dan?"  asked  Trouble. 

"No  hand  organ,  child,  no,"  answered 
Mrs.  Watson.  "But  there  is  a  monkey,  a 
parrot,  two  dogs,  and  a  cat,  a " 

"Stop!  Wait  a  moment!"  begged  Mrs. 
Martin.  She  took  a  seat  beside  her  husband 
on  the  top  step.  "I  just  wanted  to  sit  down 
before  I  fainted  when  I  heard  the  worst," 
she  went  on.  "Now  go  ahead,  Mrs.  Watson. 
Tell  me  the  rest.  I'll  have  something  to  lean 
against  in  case  she  tells  me  there's  an  ele- 
phant." 

"An  elephant!"  cried  Janet. 


46          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"Oh,  I  don't  mean  I  want  to  lean  on  the 
elephant, ' '  said  her  mother.  * 1 1  j  ust  want  to 
lean  against  the  piazza  post.  This  is  the 
worst  I  ever  heard  of — Uncle  Toby  leaving 
us  a  menagerie!" 

"  'Tisn't  quite  as  bad  as  that,  though  'tis, 
almost, ' '  said  Mrs.  Watson.  * l  There  isn  't  an 
elephant,  but  there  is  an  alligator." 

"An  alligator!  Oh,  that's  great  1"  cried 
Ted.  "Where  is  it?" 

"This  is  terrible!"  declared  his  mother. 

"It's  only  a  little  alligator,"  explained  the 
housekeeper.  "He's  real  friendly,  though 
his  tail  scratches  when  he  rubs  it  against 
your  hand  as  you  feed  him." 

"Anything  else?"  asked  Mr.  Martin. 
"Please  go  on.  We  may  as  well  hear  the 
worst.  It  sounds  like  a  circus  that  Uncle 
Toby  kept  in  his  house.  What  else,  Mrs. 
Watson?" 

"Well,  that's  about  all,  except  some  white 
rats  and  mice  and  the  pigeons.  Uncle  Toby 
didn't  get  the  snake  he  wanted." 

"Let  us  be  thankful  for  that,"  murmured 
Mrs.  Martin,  "though  it  is  bad  enough  as 
it  is." 

"Bad?"  cried  Teddy.    "I  think  it's  jolly  I 


Uncle  Toby's  Pets 47 

Can't  we  go  in  and  see  Uncle  Toby's  pets?" 
he  asked. 

"They're  going  to  be  our  pets,  aren't 
they,  Daddy?"  asked  Jan.  "Didn't  Uncle 
Toby  say  you  could  have  them?" 

"That's  what  he  said,"  replied  the  father 
of  the  Curlytops.  "But  I  don't  know 
whether  to  take  him  at  his  word  or  not.  But 
we  may  as  well  go  in  and  look  at  the — the 
menagerie !"  he  said  to  his  wife,  with  a  smile. 

"They'll  need  feeding — the  animals  will," 
said  Mrs.  "Watson.  "I'm  glad  you're  here 
to  help  me.  I  was  staying  only  until  you 
came.  Uncle  Toby  said  you'd  be  over  in  a 
day  or  two.  I'm  leaving  to-night,  now 
you're  here." 

"What?  And  make  us  take  care  of  all 
the  pets?"  cried  Mrs.  Martin. 

"Oh,  they're  real  kind  and  gentle — every 
one,  even  the  little  alligator,"  Uncle  Toby's 
housekeeper  made  haste  to  say.  "And  as 
long  as  you  have  children  the  pets  will  be 
just  the  things  for  the  Curlytops.  Only  I 
can't  stay  much  longer.  I  was  just  waiting 
for  you.  I  went  outside  as  it  was  quieter," 
she  concluded,  as,  once  again,  the  pet  ani- 
mals set  up  a  screeching,  barking  and  mew- 
ing. 


48         The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"Well,  let's  get  it  over  with,"  suggested 
Mr.  Martin.  " Maybe  they'll  be  quieter  if 
we  feed  them.  Is  there  anything  in  the  house 
for  the  menagerie  to  eat  ?"  he  asked  the  little 
old  housekeeper. 

"Oh,  yes,  Uncle  Toby  always  fed  them 
well,"  she  answered.  "Oh,  I'm  so  glad  you 
came  to  take  charge  of  the  pets!" 

"I  don't  know  whether  we  are  or  not," 
remarked  Mrs.  Martin.  "I  suppose, 
though,"  she  said  to  her  husband  in  a  low 
voice,  as  they  prepared  to  enter  the  house, 
"we  can  sell  them.  We  don't  have  to  keep 
them." 

"Yes,  I  guess  that  would  be  best — to  sell 
them,"  agreed  Mr.  Martin,  but  he  did  not 
let  the  Curlytops  hear  him  say  this. 

Led  by  Mrs.  Watson,  the  Curlytop  party 
entered  the  house.  As  the  door  was  opened 
the  different  noises  sounded  more  loudly 
than  before. 

The  dogs  barked — and  Ted  could  now  hear 
the  tones  of  two  different  animals — the  cat 
mewed,  the  monkey  screeched  and  chattered, 
and  the  parrot  cried : 

"Give  Polly  a  cracker!  Polly  wants  a 
crack-crack-cracker ! ' ' 

"I  guess  the  alligator  is  the  only  one  that 


Uncle  Toby's  Pets 49 

isn't  saying  anything/'  remarked  Mr.  Mar- 
tin to  his  wife  as  they  entered.  "And  I 
never  heard  that  alligators  make  a  noise. " 

"Yes  they  do!"  said  Janet,  eagerly.  "I 
read  it  in  my  natural  history  book.  They 
make  a  noise  like  a  grunt.  At  least  it's  either 
alligators  or  crocodiles,  I've  forgotten  which. 
But  one  kind  bellows  like  a  bull." 

"Goodness!  Let  us  hope  this  one 
doesn  't ! "  sighed  Mrs.  Martin.  ' '  Who  would 
ever  think  that  Uncle  Toby  would  keep  a 
menagerie!"  she  murmured. 

"I  never  did,"  agreed  her  husband. 

"They're  all  in  one  big  room — a  sort  of 
addition  to  the  house.  It  opens  off  the  din- 
ing room, ' '  explained  Mrs.  Watson.  ' '  Uncle 
Toby  liked  to  eat  when  his  pets  did,  that's 
why  he  had  'em  so  near  him  in  the  dining 
room.  I'll  show  'em  to  you." 

"Are  the  pigeons  out  there,  too?"  asked 
Mrs.  Martin. 

"No,  Uncle  Toby  kept  them  in  the  barn," 
the  housekeeper  replied.  "If  you  don't 
want  the  pigeons,  Uncle  Toby  told  me  to  tell 
you  there's  a  boy  in  this  same  street  who 
Avill  take  them.  But  Uncle  Toby  said  he 
wished  you'd  take  charge  of  all  the  other 
x>ets." 


50         The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

11  Oh,  yes,  Mother — Daddy!  Let's  keep 
'em  all!"  pleaded  Janet. 

By  this  time  Mrs.  Watson  had  opened  the 
door  leading  into  the  extra  room  that  Uncle 
Toby  had  built  to  house  his  pets.  No  sooner 
was  the  door  opened  than  the  noise  sounded 
louder  than  ever,  and  several  things  hap- 
pened. 

"Oh,  look  at  the  lovely  cat!"  cried  Janet, 
as  one  with  very  fluffy  fur  walked  forward, 
as  though  to  meet  the  Curlytops.  "It's  a 
Persian,  I  guess.  Oh,  I  just  love  a  Persian! 
Turnover  is  very  nice,  but  I  love  this  one  a 
lot,"  and  she  reached  down  to  stroke  the 
beautiful  cat  that  seemed  very  friendly. 

"Oh,  look!"  suddenly  cried  Ted.  "See! 
The  dogs  do  tricks!" 

As  he  spoke  one  white  poodle  came  walk- 
ing along  on  his  hind  legs,  with  his  front 
paws  held  in  a  funny  fashion  before  him. 

"Bow  wow!"  barked  the  poodle.  And 
then,  as  if  this  might  be  a  signal,  there  sud- 
denly came  from  the  end  of  the  room  another 
white  poodle,  so  nearly  like  the  first  that  it 
was  difficult  to  tell  them  apart. 

"Oh,  see !   More  tricks !"  cried  Ted. 

The  second  dog  began  turning  somer- 
saults. One  after  another  he  turned,  making 


Uncle  Toby's  Pets 51 

his  way,  in  this  fashion,  to  where  Ted  was 
patting  the  head  of  the  poodle  that  was 
standing  on  its  hind  legs. 

"Say!  I  can  have  a  regular  circus  with 
these  trick  dogs!"  cried  Ted  in  delight. 

"And  my  Persian  cat  can  be  in  it,"  added 
Janet. 

Just  then  a  cry,  as  if  of  fear,  came  from 
Trouble.  Turning  around  the  Curlytops  and 
others  saw  a  strange  sight. 

A  brown  monkey  was  hanging  by  its  tail 
from  an  electric  chandelier  in  the  middle  of 
the  room,  and,  thus  reaching  down,  was  try- 
ing to  pull  Trouble's  cap  from  the  little  fel- 
low's head. 

"  'Top!  'Top  it!"  shouted  William. 
"Make  han'-ordan  monkey  let  my  cap 
alone!"  he  wailed.  And  then,  with  a  flutter 
and  a  screech,  a  green  and  red  parrot  flew 
from  its  perch  and  landed  on  Mrs.  Martin's 
shoulder.  The  pets  of  the  Curlytops  were 
having  a  lively  time  I 


CHAPTER  V 

TIP  AND  TOP 

WITH  the  barking  of  the  trick  dogs,  in 
which  Skyrocket  joined,  and  with  the  mew- 
ing of  the  Persian  cat,  the  shrieking  of  the 
parrot,  and  the  chattering  of  the  monkey, 
for  a  time  there  was  so  much  noise  in  Uncle 
Toby's  ' 'menagerie,"  as  it  was  called,  that 
the  voices  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martin  could 
scarcely  be  heard.  But  you  could  hear  the 
voice  of  Trouble  above  everything. 

* '  Take  him  off !  Make  him  'top ! ' '  cried  the 
little  fellow.  For  by  this  time  the  monkey, 
having  hung  down  by  his  tail  from  the  chan- 
delier, and  having  taken  off  Trouble's  cap, 
was  now  trying  to  pull  the  little  boy's  hair. 

"Bad  monkey!  Make  Mm  go  'way!"  cried 
Trouble. 

"And  I  don't  like  this  parrot!"  said  Mrs. 
Martin,  though,  to  be  sure,  the  bird  was 

52 


THE   SECOND  DOG   BEGAN   TURNING   SOMERSAULTS. 
"The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets."  Page  50 


Tip  and  Top 53 

gentle  enough.  It  only  sat  on  her  shoulder 
and  shrieked : 

" Crack!  Crack!  Cracker!  I 'm  a  cracker- 
acker!" 

"Say,  this  is  great!"  cried  Ted,  as  he 
watched  the  two  dogs,  one  of  which  was 
marching  around  on  his  hind  legs  while  the 
other  was  turning  somersaults. 

"Oh,  it's  terrible!"  said  Mrs.  Martin. 
"Dick,"  she  called  to  her  husband,  "can't 
you  make  that  monkey  stop  hurting  Wil- 
liam?" 

"He  isn't  exactly  hurting  him,  my  dear," 
replied  Mr.  Martin.  "Though  I  fancy 
Trouble  is  a  bit  frightened.  I  was  going  to 
take  that  parrot  off  your  shoulder." 

1 '  Well,  look  after  William  first.  He  needs 
it  more  than  I." 

Mr.  Martin  advanced  toward  the  monkey, 
swinging  by  his  tail  from  the  chandelier, 
when  Mrs.  Watson,  the  housekeeper,  said : 

"I'll  attend  to  him !  I  know  how  to  man- 
age Jack  if  I  don't  any  of  the  other  animals. 
I  found  a  way  to  make  him  behave.  Here  I" 
she  suddenly  cried,  catching  up  a  feather- 
duster  and  shaking  it  at  the  long-tailed 
creature.  "Get  back  to  your  cubby-hole, 
Jack!" 


54          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

With  a  shrill  chatter  the  monkey  dropped 
Trouble's  cap,  which  he  was  trying  to  make 
stick  on  his  own  head,  and  a  moment  later  he 
jumped  down  from  the  chandelier  and 
scampered  into  a  box  at  the  side  of  the  room. 

"That's  where  he  belongs!"  said  Mrs. 
Watson.  "He's  always  afraid  of  that 
feather-duster.  Maybe  he  thinks  it's  a  big 
eagle  coming  to  bite  his  tail.  Anyhow,  show 
him  the  feather-duster  whenever  you  want 
to  quiet  him." 

"That's  a  good  thing  to  know,"  said  Mr. 
Martin,  when  it  was  a  little  quieter  in  the 
room,  because  Jack,  the  monkey,  had  stopped 
chattering.  "But  what  shall  we  do  about  the 
parrot  on  my  wife's  shoulder?" 

"Oh,  Mr.  Nip  is  all  right.  He's  very 
gentle, ' '  said  the  housekeeper.  ' '  Uncle  Toby 
named  him  Mr.  Nip  because  he  used  to  nip 
and  bite  when  he  first  came.  But  Uncle 
Toby  soon  cured  him  of  that.  Mr.  Nip  is  a 
nice  polly." 

"  I  'm  a  crack !  I  *m  a  crack !  I  'm  a  crack- 
crack-cracker!"  shrieked  the  parrot,  and 
then  he  flew  from  Mrs.  Martin's  shoulder  to 
the  regular  perch,  near  the  little  cage  of  the 
monkey — the  "cubby-hole,"  as  Mrs.  Watson 
called  it. 


Tip  and  Top 55 

" Thank  goodness!"  sighed  the  mother  of 
the  Curlytops. 

"You  scared,  Mother?"  asked  Trouble, 
who  was  now  wishing  the  monkey  would 
come  back,  for  after  his  first  fright,  the  little 
fellow  rather  liked  the  fuzzy  chap. 

"Only  a  little,"  said  Mrs.  Martin,  for  she 
thought  if  the  Curlytops  were  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  Uncle  Toby's  pets,  it  would 
not  be  well  for  her  to  say  they  frightened 
her. 

"I  'ike  'em  all,"  remarked  Trouble,  while 
Janet  was  rubbing  the  big  Persian  cat  and 
Ted  was  playing  with  the  two  dogs.  "Uncle 
Toby  nice  man  to  have  all  nanimals  'ike 
dis ! "  and  he  looked  around  the  room.  Surely 
there  were  quite  a  number  of  animal  pets 
there. 

"How  in  the  world  did  my  uncle  ever  come 
to  have  so  many  1 ' '  asked  Mr.  Martin.  '  *  And 
what  in  the  world  are  we  going  to  do  with 
them?" 

"I'll  tell  you  about  it  after  we've  fed 
them,"  said  Mrs.  Watson.  "They'll  be 
quieter  after  they're  fed,  and  you  might  as 
well  start  in  now  to  give  them  something  to 
eat.  If  you're  going  to  take  'em  with  you 
and  keep'  em  you'll  have  to  feed  'em." 


56          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

With  the  help  of  Ted  and  Janet,  who  set 
out  food  to  the  dogs  and  cat,  Uncle  Toby's 
animals  were  soon  all  being  given  things  to 
eat,  and  this  made  them  quiet.  Then,  while 
the  children  stood  and  watched  the  animals 
eat,  Mrs.  Watson  took  Daddy  and  Mother 
Martin  into  the  next  room  and  told  them 
about  Uncle  Toby  and  the  pets. 

"I  never  knew  that  my  uncle  was  so  fond 
of  animals,"  said  Mr.  Martin. 

"He  wasn't,  when  I  first  came  here  to  keep 
house  for  him,"  explained  Mrs.  Watson. 
"But  he  made  friends,  once,  with  a  sailor, 
who  had  the  parrot.  When  the  sailor  started 
off  on  his  next  sea  voyage,  and  didn't  want 
to  take  Mr.  Nip,  the  parrot,  with  him,  Uncle 
Toby  said  the  bird  could  stay  here.  I  didn't 
much  mind  that,  as  it  was  rather  lonesome 
when  Uncle  Toby — as  I  always  call  him — 
went  out.  So  I  got  to  liking  Mr.  Mp. 

"Then,  after  a  while,  another  sailor  gave 
Uncle  Toby  Jack,  the  monkey.  The  house 
was  more  lively  after  that,  for  the  monkey 
and  parrot  used  to  fight,  though  they  don't 
any  more.  I  thought  this  would  be  about  all 
the  pets  Uncle  Toby  would  get ;  but  lo  and 
behold!  about  a  month  after  that  another 
sailor,  hearing  that  Uncle  Toby  had  a  mon- 


Tip  and  Top 57 

key  and  a  parrot,  came  and  asked  us  if  we 
wouldn't  take  Slider." 

11  Who  is  Slider  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Martin.  "It 
sounds  like  a  pair  of  roller  skates." 

' '  Slider  is  the  pet  alligator.  He  came  from 
Florida,"  explained  Mrs.  Watson.  "Uncle 
Toby  took  him  in,  as  he  had  the  monkey  and 
the  parrot,  and  I  began  to  wonder  what 
would  happen  next." 

"Did  anything?"  asked  Daddy  Martin,  as 
he  watched  the  Curlytops  playing  in  the  next 
room  with  the  pets. 

"Oh,  my  land,  yes !"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Wat- 
son. "It  wasn't  more  than  two  weeks  after 
he  got  Slider — that's  the  alligator — that  an 
old  circus  man  came  along  with  the  two  dogs, 
Tip  and  Top." 

"Are  those  their  names?"  asked  Mrs. 
Martin,watching  Ted  as  he  made  one  of  the 
dogs  turn  somersaults. 

"Yes,  one  of  the  white  poodles — the  one 
with  the  black  spot  on  his  tail — is  named 
Tip,"  the  housekeeper  said.  "You  see  the 
spot  is  on  the  tip  of  his  tail." 

"I  can  see  that — yes,"  replied  Mr.  Martin 
from  where  he  sat.  He  was  wondering  where 
all  this  was  going  to  end. 

"And  the  other  dog  is  named  Top,"  said 


58          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

the  housekeeper.    "He  has  a  black  spot  on 
the  top  of  his  head." 

"They  are  both  very  nice,  and  I  like  the 
names,  too — Tip  and  Top,"  remarked  Mrs. 
Martin.  "See!"  she  exclaimed.  "Our  own 
dog,  Skyrocket,  is  making  friends  with 
them." 

Indeed  Skyrocket,  the  Curlytop's  dog, 
was  doing  this  very  thing.  Perhaps  he 
wanted  to  learn  how  to  walk  on  his  hind  legs 
and  turn  somersaults,  as  Tip  and  Top  could 
do. 

"Tip  and  Top  are  two  valuable  dogs," 
said  Mrs.  Watson.  "They  were  once  in  the' 
circus,  and  it  was  there  they  learned  to  do 
their  tricks,  though  Uncle  Toby  taught  them 
others." 

"Why  didn't  the  circus  man  keep  them  if 
they  were  so  valuable?"  asked  Mrs.  Martin. 

"The  circus  man  had  made  friends  with 
the  sailor  who  gave  Uncle  Toby  the  alli- 
gator," explained  the  housekeeper,  "and  the 
circus  man  decided  to  become  a  sailor,  too. 
He  said  he  didn't  want  to  keep  the  dogs  on 
a  ship,  so  he  gave  them  to  Uncle  Toby." 

"And  that's  how  the  menagerie  started?" 
asked  Daddy  Martin. 

'That's  how  it  started,"  said  Mrs.  Wat- 


tti 


Tip  and  Top 59 

son.  "There  were  times  when  I  thought  it 
would  never  end.  That  was  when  a  lady, 
who  was  going  to  travel  for  her  health,  asked 
Uncle  Toby  to  keep  Snuff,  her  Persian  cat." 

"Is  Snuff  the  cat's  name?"  asked  the 
mother  of  the  Curlytops. 

"Yes,"  answered  Mrs.  Watson.  "It  is 
just  the  color  of  snuff,  you  see,  a  sort  of  yel- 
lowish brown.  Many  Persian  cats  have  that 
color,  I'm  told.  Anyhow  this  lady — I  Ve  for- 
gotten her  name — said  she  saw  that  Uncle 
Toby  loved  animals,  as  he  had  so  many  of 
them,  so  she  asked  him  to  keep  her  cat." 

"And  Uncle  Toby  did,"  remarked  Mrs. 
Martin. 

"Uncle  Toby  surely  did!"  declared  the 
housekeeper.  "It  seemed  he  couldn't  say 
'no'  where  animals  were  concerned.  By  this 
time  the  house  began  to  be  rather  overrun 
with  pets,  so  he  built  this  room  out  of  the 
dining  room,  with  special  cages — cubby- 
holes I  call  'em — for  the  pets.  I  did  think 
Snuff  would  be  the  last  one,  but  after  that 
came  the  white  mice  and  rats." 

"It's  usually  the  other  way  about,"  said 
Mrs.  Martin,  with  a  smile.  "When  the  cat 
comes  the  mice  go.  But  this  time  the  mice 
came  after  the  cat  arrived." 


60          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"Yes,"  agreed  the  housekeeper.  "Snuff, 
the  cat,  and  the  white  mice — I  don't  know 
their  names — are  great  friends.  The  mice 
and  rats  belonged  to  a  boy  down  the  street. 
His  family  moved  to  another  state  last  sum- 
mer, and  his  folks  made  him  get  rid  of  the 
mice.  He  brought  them  to  Uncle  Toby,  and 
of  course  Uncle  Toby  couldn't  say  no,  so  he 
kept  them.  It  was  then  I  first  threatened  to 
leave.  The  house  was  too  full  of  animals." 

"But  you  didn't  go,"  said  Mrs.  Martin. 

"No,  I  stayed  on,  because  Uncle  Toby 
begged  me  to,  and  he  said  he  wouldn't  add  to 
his  collection.  But  then  came  the  pigeons. 
They  were  brought  by  another  boy,  whose 
folks  moved  away  and  he  couldn't  keep  'em 
any  more.  I  didn't  so  much  mind  the  pig- 
eons, as  they  stay  out  in  the  barn.  But  we 
certainly  had  a  houseful  of  pets!  After  a 
while  I  got  rather  to  liking  them,  and  Uncle 
Toby  was  very  fond  of  'em,  and  taught  'em 
many  tricks. 

"But  finally,  as  you  know  from  the  letter 
he  wrote  you,  he  decided  to  take  a  long  trip, 
and  perhaps  he  may  never  come  back,  if  he 
finds  he  likes  it  in  South  America.  So  he 
decided  to  ask  you  to  take  charge  of  his  col- 
lection, and  I  said  I'd  stay  until  you  arrived, 


Tip  and  Top  61 


as  Uncle  Toby  had  to  leave  in  a  hurry,  to 
catch  a  ship  that  was  sailing  for  South 
America. " 

"Why  did  he  go  there?"  asked  Mr.  Mar- 
tin. 

"I  think  it  was  because  he  heard  that 
monkeys  and  parrots  come  from  there,"  the 
housekeeper  answered.  "He  seemed  to  like 
those  animals  better  than  any  others,  though 
Tip  and  Top,  the  two  dogs,  are  more  valu- 
able, because  they  can  do  circus  tricks." 

"They  certainly  are  cute,"  said  Mrs.  Mar- 
tin. 

"Well,  there  you  have  the  story  of  Uncle 
Toby's  pets,"  said  Mrs.  Watson,  "though  I 
suppose  they'll  be  the  Curlytops'  pets  now, 
for  Uncle  Toby  said  he  was  going  to  give 
you  his  collection." 

"Hum!  Yes,  "mused  Mr.  Martin.  "If  I 
had  known  what  the  collection  was  I  don't 
believe  I  would  have  come  after  it." 

Mrs.  Watson  began  putting  on  her  hat, 
and  from  a  corner  of  the  room  she  picked 
up  her  valise,  which  she  had  already  packed. 

"Where  are  you  going?"  asked  Mrs. 
Martin. 

"I  am  going  away,"  answered  the  house- 
keeper. "My  plans  are  all  made.  I  am 


62          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

going  to  live  with  my  sister.  All  she  keeps 
is  a  cat,  and  she  puts  that  outside  and  winds 
the  clock  every  night  before  she  goes  to  bed. 
I'm  going  to  her  house.  I  told  Uncle  Toby 
I'd  stay  until  the  Curlytops  came  to  take 
charge  of  the  pets,  and,  now  that  you  are 
here,  111  be  going." 

"But  I  say!  Look  here!  What  are  we 
going  to  do?"  asked  Mr.  Martin. 

"Why,  you're  to  take  charge  of  the  collec- 
tion," said  the  housekeeper.  "That's  what 
Uncle  Toby  said  in  his  letter.  You  are  to 
have  the  pets!" 

"But  I  don't  want  them!  That  is,  we 
can't  keep  so  many!"  protested  Daddy  Mar- 
tin. "Two  dogs,  a  cat,  a  monkey,  a  parrot, 
an  alligator  and  some  white  rats  and  mice,, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  pigeons !  And  we  have 
a  dog  and  cat  now,  and  we  just  got  rid  of  a, 
goat  and  a  pony!  Oh,  I  say,  my  dear  Mrs. 
Watson!  This  is  too  much!" 

"Can't  help  it!"  said  the  housekeeper  as 
she  fastened  on  her  hat.  "Uncle  Toby  said 
you  were  to  take  charge  of  his  collection  of 
pets.  That's  all  I  know.  If  he  never  comes 
back — and  I  don't  believe  he  ever  will — the 
pets  are  yours  to  keep.  I'd  keep  them  if  I 
were  you — all  except  the  pigeons.  There's 


Tip  and  Top 63 

a  boy  down  the  street  who  will  take  them 
and  be  glad  to  get  'em.  The  pets  are  valu- 
able— especially  Tip  and  Top,  the  dogs. 
They  do  tricks  separately,  but  they  do  more 
tricks  together — a  sort  of  team,  you  know. 
Those  dogs  are  yery  valuable  for  a  show." 

"Then  I  know  what  we  can  do/'  said  Mr. 
Martin.  "We  can  sell  the  pets  TTncle  Toby 
left  and  give  the  money  to  a  home  for  chil- 
dren, or  something  like  that.  Ill  do  it — 
we'll  sell  the  pets!" 

In  another  moment — just  as  if  they  had 
been  waiting  for  their  father  to  say  this — 
there  came  a  storm  of  objections  from  Ted 
and  Janet.  In  they  ran  from  the  room 
where  they  had  been  playing  with  the  ani- 
mals. 

"Oh,  don't  sell  'em!"  pleaded  Janet. 

"Let  us  keep  'em!"  begged  Ted.  "Those 
dogs  are  the  best  I  ever  saw !  They  can  do 
dandy  tricks !  I  could  get  up  a  show  with 
them  and  Skyrocket." 

"And  this  cat  and  our  other  cat,  too," 
added  Janet.  "Don't  sell  Uncle  Toby's  pets, 
Da  ddy !  Let  us  keep  them ! ' ' 

Daddy  Martin  looked  at  his  wife.  And 
then,  as  if  they  had  been  waiting  for  some- 
thing like  this,  Tip  and  Top  did  one  of  their 


64          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

best  tricks.  Tip  began  turning  somersaults 
again  and  Top  walked  around  on  his  hind 
legs.  Then  the  two  dogs  barked,  and,  with- 
out anyone  saying  a  word  to  them,  they  did 
another  trick. 

Tip  stopped  turning  somersaults  and 
stood  still.  In  an  instant  Top  jumped  up 
on  Tip's  back  and  stood  there  on  his  hind 
legs.  Then  Tip  walked  around  the  room. 

"Oh,  aren't  they  too  sweet  for  anything!" 
cried  Janet. 

"That's  a  dandy  trick!"  declared  Ted. 
"Do,  please,  let  us  keep  Uncle  Toby's  pets 
for  our  own." 

"Well,"  said  his  father  slowly,  "I  don't 
see  how  in  the  world " 

But  at  that  moment  there  came  a  knock 
at  the  door,  and  the  dogs  began  to  bark,  the 
parrot  shrieked,  the  monkey  chattered  and 
Snuff,  the  Persian  cat,  began  to  mew. 

What  was  going  to  happen  now? 


CHAPTER  VI 

WHERE  IS  TIP? 

"SOMEONE  is  at  the  door/'  said  Mrs.  Mar- 
tin to  Uncle  Toby's  housekeeper. 

"Yes,  I  hear  'em,"  answered  the  queer 
little  old  lady.  "I  'spect  it's  the  boy  after 
the  pigeons.  I  told  him  to  call  as  soon  as 
he  saw  the  Curlytops  arrive,  and  he's  prob- 
ably been  watching  for  you.  I'll  let  him  in 
as  soon  as  I  finish  putting  on  my  hat  so  I 
can  go." 

But  before  this  Mr.  Martin,  who  was  near- 
est the  door,  had  opened  it,  and  in  came  a 
boy  about  as  old  as  Teddy,  though  without 
the  curly  locks  of  that  little  lad. 

"Can  I  have  the  pigeons?"  asked  the  new 
boy,  taking  on2  his  cap  and  making  a  little 
bow  to  Mrs.  Martin,  Mrs.  Watson  and  Daddy 
Martin.  "Uncle  Toby  said  I  could  have  'em 
if  you  folks  didn't  want  'em,  and  I've  been 

65 


66          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

waiting  for  you  to  come.  I  just  saw  you 
get  here." 

"Yes!  Yes!  Take  the  pigeons!  Take 
any  of  the  animals  you  want!"  begged  Mrs. 
Martin.  "I  don't  see  what  in  the  world  we 
are  going  to  do  with  these  animals!" 

"Oh,  keep  Tip  and  Top— the  dogs!" 
begged  Teddy. 

"And  Snuff,  the  cat!"  added  Janet. 

"I  'ike  monkey  if  he  don't  pull  my  cap 
off,"  said  Trouble.  "  'Et's  keep  him!" 

"And  the  white  mice  and  rats  wouldn't  be 
much  bother,"  went  on  Teddy. 

"We  never  had  a  parrot  that  I  can  remem- 
ber," cried  Janet.  "I  could  feed  him, 
Mother." 

"The  alligator  doesn't  make  much  noise," 
Ted  said. 

* l  Dear  me !  We  '11  end  up  by  keeping  them 
all,  I  see!"  laughed  the  father  of  the  Curly- 
tops.  "That  is,  all  but  the  pigeons,"  he 
added  quickly,  as  he  saw  a  look  of  disap- 
pointment on  the  face  of  the  new  boy.  "You 
may  have  them,  since  Uncle  Toby  promised 
them  to  you." 

"The  pigeons  are  all  I  want,"  said  the 
boy,  whose  name  was  Bob  Nelson.  "My 
mother  won't  let  me  have  any  of  the  other 


Where  Is  Tip? 67 

pets.  And,  anyhow,  I  have  a  dog  and  a  cat. 
Could  I  get  the  pigeons  now?  I've  got  a 
basket  and  they  are  so  tame  I  can  pick  'em 
up.  They  know  me.  I  used  to  help  Uncle 
Toby  feed  'em." 

"Yes,  you  may  get  them,"  Mrs.  Martin, 
said.  "We'll  get  rid  of  a  few  of  the  pets  in 
that  way.  But  what  we  are  to  do  with  the 
others,  I'm  sure  I  don't  know." 

"You'd  better  keep  'em,"  advised  Mrs. 
Watson,  who  was  now  almost  ready  to  go. 
"Uncle  Toby  wouldn't  like  it,  I'm  sure,  if 
you  didn't  take  care  of  his  pets." 

"Oh,  I  wouldn't,  for  the  world,  have  any- 
thing happen  to  them,  as  he  was  so  fond  of 
them  and  kind  to  them,"  said  the  mother  of 
the  Curlytops.  "But  we  could  sell  them  to 
some  animal  store,  and,  as  my  husband  says, 
give  the  money  to  a  home  for  children. 
Uncle  Toby  would  like  that." 

"Yes,  he  was  very  fond  of  children  and 
animals,"  said  the  housekeeper,  as  she 
seemed  about  to  leave.  "It's  a  pity  he  never 
had  any  of  his  own — any  children,  I  mean," 
she  quickly  added.  "He  did  have  enough 
animals.  You'd  better  keep  'em,  your  chil- 
dren seem  fond  of  'em,"  she  added. 

"Oh,  the  Curlytops  love  animals,"  agreed 


68          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

Mr.  Martin.  "In  fact  I  like  them  myself, 
especially  Tip  and  Top,  the  dogs.  I  never 
saw  any  better  trick  animals." 

Tip  and  Top  had  quieted  down  now,  as  had 
the  other  animals  after  Bob  had  come  in  to 
get  the  pigeons. 

"You'd  better  keep  all  of  Uncle  Toby's 
pets,"  she  concluded.  "I'm  going  now. 
Just  pull  the  door  shut  after  you  and  it  will 
lock.  The  water  is  turned  off  and  the  house 
is  all  cleaned  out.  There  isn't  any  food  to 
spoil,  except  what  the  animals  need,  and  you 
can  take  that  with  you.  Uncle  Toby  said  I 
was  to  go  as  soon  as  you  arrived  to  have 
charge  of  his  collection,  and,  as  you  are  here, 
I'm  going.  Uncle  Toby  has  hired  a  man  to 
look  after  the  house  so  it  will  be  all  right. 
Go  and  get  your  pigeons,  Bob,"  she  added. 
"Good-bye,  everybody,"  and  away  she  went. 

For  a  moment  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martin  looked 
at  each  other.  Then  Mr.  Nip,  the  parrot, 
broke  the  silence  by  saying : 

"I'm  a  crack-crack-cracker!" 

"You're  a  fire-cracker — at  least  your 
feathers  are  red  enough  for  that,"  laughed 
Mrs.  Martin.  "Well,  we  seem  to  have  the 
pets  whether  we  want  them  or  not,"  she  told 
her  husband.  "We  can't  go  away  and  leave 


Where  Is  Tip?  69 


them  here.  We  can't  stay  in  this  house,  and 
try  to  sell  them,  if  the  water  is  turned  off 
and  there  is  nothing  to  eat.  I  guess  we'll, 
have  to  take  the  pets  home  with  us,  Dick." 

Mr.  Martin  looked  puzzled. 

"Oh,  yes!  Please  keep  them!"  begged 
Ted  and  Janet. 

"An'  det  a  han'-ordan  fo'  de  monkey!" 
begged  Trouble,  speaking  rather  more  in 
baby  fashion  than  he  usually  talked,  because 
he  was  so  excited,  I  suppose. 

"At  least  we'll  have  to  take  charge  of 
Uncle  Toby's  pets  until  we  decide  what  to. 
do,"  said  Mr.  Martin,  after  a  while.  "We 
might  keep  some  of  them  and  sell  the 
others." 

"Oh,  keep  them  all!"  exclaimed  Ted. 

"Well  see,"  his  father  answered,  and 
from  the  tone  of  his  voice  Ted  and  his  sister 
were  almost  sure  they  would  be  allowed  to 
have  all  the  animals  for  their  very  own.  Of 
course  Trouble  could  hardly  expect  a  hand- 
organ  to  go  with  Jack,  the  monkey,  but  that 
was  not  much  of  a  loss. 

"We  can't  get  back  home  to-night,"  said 
Mrs.  Martin,  "that's  sure.  It's  too  far. 
We'll  have  to  stay  either  here,  at  Uncle 
Toby's  house,  or  at  a  hotel." 


70          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"I  suppose  we  could  stay  here,  if  we  had 
to, ' '  her  husband  remarked.  ' '  I  can  turn  the 
water  on,  and  it  is  easy  enough  to  get  some- 
thing to  eat,  even  if  we  have  to  buy  it  at  the 
delicatessen  shop." 

"I  just  love  delicatessen  stuff,  don't  you?" 
whispered  Jan  to  her  brother.  ' i  I  hope  they 
get  a  lot!  I'll  give  some  to  Snuff,  the  Per- 
sian cat." 

"If  we  stay  it  will  be  just  like  camping," 
agreed  Ted. 

While  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martin  were  consid- 
ering what  to  do,  Bob,  the  boy  who  had  come 
for  the  pigeons,  put  his  head  in  through  the 
doorway  and  called  out : 

"I  got  'em  all,  thank  you !  I'm  going  now. 
I  hope  you  have  good  luck  with  Uncle  Toby's 
pets!" 

"Goodness  knows  we'll  need  it,"  said  Mrs. 
Martin,  and  then  she  had  to  laugh.  The 
whole  affair  seemed  to  her  to  be  so  very 
funny.  Neither  she  nor  her  husband  had 
imagined  that  Uncle  Toby's  " collection" 
could  be  anything  like  this — dogs,  a  parrot, 
a  monkey,  a  Persian  cat  and  a  little  alli- 
gator, not  forgetting  the  white  rats  and  mice. 

"Well,  we'd  better  stay  here  for  the 
night,"  finally  decided  Daddy  Martin.  "It 


Where  Is  Tip?  71 


is  warm,  and  Uncle  Toby  had  quite  a  num- 
ber of  beds.  The  house  is  in  good  order. 
I'll  turn  on  the  water,  and  you  and  the  chil- 
dren might  go  to  the  store  and  get  things 
for  supper,"  he  added.  "It  will  soon  be 
night." 

"Oh,  what  fun!  We're  going  to  stay 
here !"  cried  Janet,  dancing  around  the  Per- 
sian cat,  who  was  trying  to  rub  against  her 
legs. 

"And  I'll  teach  Tip  and  Top  some  new 
tricks,  so  we  can  have  a  circus  when  we  get 
home,"  remarked  Ted. 

"There's  circus  enough  here,"  his  father 
said,  with  a  smile.  "But  trot  along,  Curly- 
tops,  if  you  are  going  to  get  something  for 
us  to  eat.  The  animals  have  been  fed  and 
now  it  is  time  for  us.  I'm  getting  hungry." 

"Me  hundry,  too!"  declared  Trouble. 

"We  mustn't  let  that  happen!"  laughed 
his  mother.  "We'll  go  to  the  store.  Come 
along,  Curlytops!" 

As  the  children  walked  down  the  street 
with  their  mother  to  look  for  the  nearest 
delicatessen  store,  they  saw  the  boy  Bob 
carefully  wheeling  his  basket  of  pigeons  to- 
ward his  own  home.  He  had  gotten  the  birds 
out  of  Uncle  Toby's  barn. 


72         The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

When  Mrs.  Martin  and  the  Curlytops, 
with  Trouble,  of  course,  came  back  to  Uncle 
Toby's  house,  they  found  Daddy  Martin  sit- 
ting in  front  of  the  kitchen  stove  in  which  he 
had  kindled  a  fire.  In  his  lap  was  the  Per- 
sian cat,  purring  contentedly,  and  Mr.  Mar- 
tin was  rubbing  the  long,  soft  silky  fur  of 
Snuff. 

In  front  of  the  father  of  the  Curlytops 
were  Skyrocket,  Tip,  and  Top,  the  three 
dogs.  They  were  lying  asleep  near  the  fire. 
In  the  other  room  were  the  mice,  the  rats,  the 
alligator,  the  monkey,  and  the  parrot,  all  the 
animals  quiet,  for  a  wonder,  as  Mrs.  Martin 
said. 

"Oh,  Daddy!  you  love  'em,  don't  you?" 
exclaimed  Jan,  as  she  saw  her  father  sur- 
rounded by  some  of  the  pets.  1 1  We  may  keep 
them,  mayn't  we?" 

"Ill  see  about  it,"  was  the  answer,  and 
Janet  whispered  to  Teddy  that  she  was  al- 
most sure  this  meant  "yes." 

It  did  not  take  long  to  get  up  a  little  sup- 
per. Daddy  Martin  ran  the  automobile  into 
the  side  yard  of  Uncle  Toby's  house,  and 
the  Curlytop  family,  as  I  sometimes  call 
them,  prepared  to  stay  all  night.  There  were 
plenty  of  beds,  and  in  the  morning  they  could 


Where  Is  Tip? 73 

turn  off  the  water  again,  take  the  pets  away, 
close  the  house,  and  everything  would  be  as 
Uncle  Toby  wished  it. 

You  can  easily  guess  that  neither  of  the 
Curlytops,  nor  Trouble,  for  that  matter, 
wanted  to  go  to  bed  early  that  night.  The 
children  were  thinking  too  much  of  the  pets. 
And,  indeed,  the  pets  seemed  to  like  the  chil- 
dren. Mr.  Mp,  the  parrot,  let  Jan  scratch 
his  head,  a  form  of  caress  of  which  he  seemed 
very  fond.  Jack,  the  monkey,  no  longer 
snatched  off  Trouble's  cap.  But  perhaps 
that  was  because  baby  William  did  not  wear 
it  near  the  lively  chap.  Snuff,  the  Persian 
cat,  seemed  to  have  taken  a  great  liking  to 
Mr.  Martin,  and  as  for  the  dogs,  Tip  and 
Top,  they  were  hardly  out  of  the  sight  of 
Jan  and  Ted.  Nor  was  Skyrocket  neglected 
or  jealous.  He  entered  into  the  fun  of  play- 
ing around  on  the  lawn  and  porch  with  the 
white  poodles  after  supper. 

Even  Slider,  the  little  alligator,  seemed 
very  friendly.  He  took  bits  of  meat  from 
the  fingers  of  Ted,  though  Janet  said  she 
was  afraid  of  the  scaly  creature. 

"I'm  going  to  teach  him  some  tricks,  so 
he  can  be  in  the  animal  circus,"  declared 
Ted. 


74          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"Are  you  going  to  have  a  circus?"  asked 
his  sister. 

"Sure!"  he  answered,  though,  to  tell  the 
truth,  he  had  not  begun  to  think  of  it  until  he 
saw  all  the  pets  IJncle  Toby  had  left.  "Well 
have  a  fine  circus!" 

The  evening  passed  pleasantly.  Finally 
Trouble  became  sleepy,  even  though  he  was 
much  interested  in  watching  Jack,  the  mon- 
key, crack  peanuts. 

"Come,  laddie,  you  must  go  to  bed!" 
called  Mrs.  Martin.  "Mr.  Nip,  the  parrot, 
has  gone  to  sleep  long  ago,  with  his  head  un- 
der his  wing,  poor  thing !"  and  she  sang  part 
of  the  "Robin  Song." 

"Me  want  see  head's  under  swing,"  mur- 
mured Trouble.  "Me  see!" 

"Oh,  no!  I  don't  want  to  wake  up  Mr. 
Nip.  He  has  a  cloth  over  his  cage  to  keep 
him  quiet,"  and  Mrs.  Martin  carried  Trouble 
over  to  where  the  parrot's  cage  had  been 
covered  with  a  table-cover  for  the  night. 

"Goo '-bye,"  murmured  the  little  fellow 
sleepily,  and  then  he  was  carried  up  to  his 
bed  in  Uncle  Toby's  house. 

A  little  later  Ted  and  Janet  also  went  to 
their  rooms,  having  given  farewell  pats  and 
rubs  to  the  dogs  and  cat.  Mr.  Martin  went 


Where  Is  Tip? 75 

about,  seeing  that  the  house  was  locked  up, 
and  then  he  and  his  wife  sat  downstairs, 
talking  while  the  children  were  asleep. 

"Do  you  really  intend  to  take  all  those 
pets  home  with  us?"  asked  Mrs.  Martin. 

"I  don't  see  what  else  we  can  do/'  her 
husband  replied.  "The  children  will  be  dis- 
appointed if  we  don't.  And  I  don't  really 
want  to  sell  them.  Uncle  Toby  might  not 
like  it.  I  think  I'll  take  them  home  with  us, 
and  write  to  him,  if  I  can  get  his  address. 
He  must  have  left  it,  even  if  he  is  going  to 
live  in  South  America." 

"But  how  can  we  take  home  a  monkey,  a 
parrot,  three  dogs,  a  cat,  an  alligator  and 
some  rats  and  some  white  mice?"  asked  the 
mother  of  the  Curlytops. 

"Oh,  there  is  plenty  of  room  in  the  auto," 
her  husband  answered.  "We'll  load  it  up 
in  the  morning." 

The  night  passed  quietly  enough,  except 
that  about  twelve  o'clock  the  parrot  suddenly 
began  shrieking : 

"Police!  Police!  Burglars!  Police!  I'm 
a  crack-crack-cracker ! ' ' 

"Dick!  Dick!  Wake  up!"  called  Mrs. 
Martin.  ' l  Someone  is  at  the  front  door ! ' ' 


76          The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

1  'Police I  Police!"  chattered  the  parrot 
again. 

And,  surely  enough,  it  was  the  police, 
though  how  the  red  and  green  bird  knew  it 
is  more  than  I  can  say. ,  A  passing  police- 
man, seeing  the  light  in  Uncle  Toby's  house, 
and  having  been  told  by  Mrs.  Watson,  the 
housekeeper,  on  her  way  to  her  sister's,  that 
the  place  was  to  be  closed,  had  stopped  to 
inquire. 

"I  thought  it  was  burglars,"  said  the  po- 
liceman, after  Daddy  Martin  had  gone  down 
to  the  front  door  and  explained. 

"That's  what  Mr.  Nip  did,  too,  I  guess," 
said  Mr.  Martin. 

"Who's  Mr.  Nip?"  asked  the  officer. 

"The  parrot,"  said  the  father  of  the  Cur- 
lytops.  ' l  He  awakened  us  by  his  shrieking. ' ' 

After  the  policeman  had  gone,  the  house 
became  quiet  again,  and  nothing  more  hap- 
pened until  morning.  After  breakfast  the 
water  was  turned  off,  and  the  home  of  Uncle 
Toby  was  made  ready  for  closing  up  until 
the  old  gentleman  should  return. 

The  parrot's  cage,  the  box  for  the  monkey, 
the  little  tank  of  water  and  pebbles  in  which 
Slider  lived,  and  the  wire  cage  of  the  white 
mice  and  rats — all  these  were  taken  out  to 


Where  Is  Tip? 77 

the  automobile.  It  was  a  large  one,  and  there 
was  plenty  of  room  for  the  Curlytops  and 
their  new  pets. 

"Take  Snuff,  the  cat,  in  between  you  and 
Trouble,  Janet,"  her  father  advised.  "Tip 
and  Top  can  snuggle  down  with  Skyrocket 
on  the  floor  near  Ted.  Are  we  all  ready 
now?" 

"As  ready  as  we  ever  shall  be,"  his  wife 
answered.  "My,  what  a  queer  load!"  she 
said,  with  a  laugh,  as  she  looked  back  at  the 
collection  and  the  children.  "People  will 
think  we're  a  traveling  menagerie !" 

This,  however,  did  not  worry  the  Curly-j 
tops.  They  liked  it,  and,  a  little  later,  they 
were  on  their  way  back  toward  Cresco.  The 
Curlytops  liked  their  new  pets,  and  they  also 
loved  those  they  had  had  for  a  longer  time — 
Skyrocket  and  Turnover. 

"We'll  try  to  get  home  early,"  said  Mr. 
Martin  to  his  wife,  as  he  steered  the  auto- 
mobile through  the  streets  of  Pocono. 
'l We'll  have  to  fix  up  a  place  for  these  pets. " 

* '  Yes, ' '  agreed  his  wife.  ' '  They  are  going 
to  be  quite  a  care.  But  the  children  will  love 
them." 

They  stopped  for  lunch  at  a  little  restau- 
rant, and  the  children  were  afraid  lest  some 


78          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

of  their  pets  might  escape  while  the  meal 
was  being  served.  But  Mr.  Martin  saw  a 
young  man,  sitting  in  front  of  a  barber  shop 
next  to  the  restaurant,  and  said  to  him : 

"Will  you  watch  my  automobile  and  the 
animals  while  we  are  in  the  dining  room? 
I'll  give  you  fifty  cents." 

"I'll  be  glad  to  do  it,"  said  the  young 
man. 

So  long  as  he  was  on  guard  the  Curlytops 
were  satisfied.  But  when  they  came  out  they 
made  a  sad  discovery.  Ted  jumped  up  on 
the  running-board  and  looked  down  into  the 
automobile  to  make  sure  all  the  pets  were 
safe.  The  alligator,  the  parrot,  the  white 
mice  and  rats,  the  cat,  the  monkey,  and  two 
dogs  were  there.  But  there  was  no  sign  of 
Tip,  the  white  poodle  with  a  black  spot  on 
the  end  of  his  tail. 

"Where  is  Tip  ?  Oh,  where  is  Tip  ?"  cried 
Ted.  "He's  gone  I" 


CHAPTER  VII 

A  FUZZY  BURGLAR 

"WHAT'S  that?"  asked  Mr.  Martin,  who 
was  the  last  of  the  Curlytop  family  to  come 
out  of  the  restaurant.  "Who  is  gone?  One 
of  the  pets?" 

"Tip  is  gone,"  answered  Teddy.  "Oh, 
where  is  he?" 

"Maybe  he's  hiding  back  of  the  monkey's 
cage,"  suggested  Janet,  for  Jack,  the  pet 
monkey,  lived  in  a  sort  of  cage,  or  box,  and 
he  had  been  moved  from  Uncle  Toby's  house 
in  it. 

"No,  Tip  isn't  here  at  all,"  said  Teddy. 
"Top  is  here  and  Skyrocket,  but  Tip  is 
gone." 

"That  can't  be,"  said  the  young  man  who 
had  said  he  would  guard  the  animals  while 
the  Curlytops  ate.  "I've  been  here  all  the 
while,  and  I  didn't  see  even  one  of  the  white 
mice  get  away." 

79 


80         The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

He  seemed  to  be  a  nice,  good-natured 
young  man,  and  appeared  to  be  as  much 
surprised  as  Teddy  and  Janet  were  over  the 
loss  of  Tip.  As  for  Trouble,  he  was  not 
worrying  much.  He  had  climbed  into  the 
front  seat  of  the  automobile,  and  was  play- 
ing with  Snuff,  the  yellow  Persian  cat.  As 
long  as  Trouble  had  some  animal  near  him 
he  did  not  worry  much  about  anything  else. 

"Have  you  been  right  here  all  the  while, 
young  man  ?"  asked  Mr.  Martin  of  the  youth 
who  had  been  left  on  guard.  "You  didn't 
go  away,  did  you,  and  give  someone  a  chance 
to  come  up  and  take  one  of  the  dogs?" 

"Oh,  no,  sir!  I  stayed  right  here  all  the 
while.  I  sat  down  on  the  running-board  and 
waited.  The  only  thing  that  happened  was 
that  the  alligator  tried  to  crawl  out,  but  I 
put  him  back.  I  was  sitting  here,  thinking 
how  funny  it  was  that  anybody  should  have 
so  many  pets,  when,  all  of  a  sudden,  I  felt 
something  rough  on  my  neck." 

"What  was  it  ?"  asked  Janet,  while  Teddy 
was  looking  under  the  automobile,  thinking 
that  perhaps  Tip  might  be  hiding  there. 

"It  was  the  little  alligator,  with  his  rough 
tail,"  explained  the  young  man,  who  said  he 
was  called  "Shorty"  by  his  chums.  He  was 


••* 
A  Fuzzy  Burglar  81 

very  tall,  and  perhaps  that  was  why  he  was 
called  ' l  Shorty, ' '  in  fun  you  know.  * '  It  was 
the  little  alligator  that  was  crawling  up  my 
shoulder  and  scratching  my  neck,"  he  ex- 
plained. "I  put  him  back  in  his  cage,  or 
tank,  or  whatever  you  call  it,  though  I  was 
afraid  he'd  bite  me." 

"Oh,  no,  Slider  is  very  gentle,"  said  Ted, 
who  came  up  on  the  sidewalk,  after  having 
peered  under  the  automobile.  "Oh,  dear,  I 
don't  see  where  Tip  can  be!"  he  said. 

"It  is  queer  that  he  should  go  away  and 
leave  Top,"  said  Mrs.  Martin,  for  the  other 
white  poodle  dog  was  there,  safe  in  the  auto- 
mobile. 

Top  looked  up  at  the  friends  gazing  down 
at  him,  barked  and  wagged  his  tail.  Per- 
haps he,  too,  was  asking  what  had  become 
of  his  chum,  Tip. 

"The  dog  must  have  jumped  out  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  car  from  where  you  were 
sitting,"  said  Mr.  Martin  to  Shorty. 
' '  Though  if  that  had  happened  I  should  have 
thought  you  would  have  heard  him, "  and  the 
father  of  the  Curlytops  looked  rather 
sharply  at  Shorty. 

"No,  sir,  I  didn't  hear  a  thing,"  was  the 
answer.  "All  I  know  is  that  the  alligator 


82          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

tried  to  crawl  up  my  neck.  I  didn't  see  the 
dog  run  away." 

"Perhaps  he  didn't  run  away,"  suggested 
Mrs.  Martin. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  asked  Janet. 

"I  mean  someone  may  have  stepped  up 
softly,  when  this  young  man  had  his  back 
turned,  and,  reaching  over,  may  have  lifted 
Tip  up  and  taken  him  away.  I  wish  you 
had  sat  in  the  auto,  Shorty,  instead  of  out- 
side on  the  step." 

"Yes'm,  I  wish  so  myself,"  agreed  the 
young  man.  "But  there  were  so  many  ani- 
mals in  there  I  thought  I'd  better  be  on  the 
outside  so  I  could  chase  'em  quicker  in  case 
any  got  away.  And  one  did  get  away  and  I 
never  saw  him !  I'm  terribly  sorry !  I'll  go 
down  the  street  and  see  if  I  can  find  him." 

"I  wish  you  would,"  remarked  Mr.  Mar- 
tin. "Just  take  a  look,  and  ask  everyone 
you  meet  if  he  saw  a  white  poodle  with  a 
black  tip  on  the  end  of  his  tail.  If  you  find 
him  I'll  give  you  a  dollar  besides  the  fifty 
cents  for  watching  the  auto." 

"I'd  like  to  earn  that  dollar!"  said  the 
young  man.  "I'll  go  look!" 

"I'll  come,  too,"  offered  Teddy,  "but  I 


A  Fuzzy  Burglar       83 

don't  want  a  dollar  if  I  find  Tip.    I  just 
want  to  get  our  dog  back." 

"So  do  I,"  added  Janet.  "Ill  come  and 
look  with  you." 

"This  was  a  valuable  dog,"  explained  Mr. 
Martin,  as  Shorty  moved  off  down  the  street. 
"He  could  do  tricks.  I'd  like  very  much  to 
get  him  back." 

"I'll  do  my  best,"  promised  the  young 
man.  "It  was  my  fault,  in  a  way,  that  he 
got  a  chance  to  go  away.  I  should  have  been 
looking  on  both  sides  of  the  auto  at  once, 
but  I  didn't.  I'll  see  if  I  can't  find  him. " 

"I  think  I'll  take  a  look,  myself,"  said 
Mr.  Martin  to  his  wife,  who  had  now  gotten 
in  the  automobile  with  Trouble.  "I  don't 
like  the  way  things  have  happened." 

"Why,  do  you  think  that  young  man  had 
anything  to  do  with  Tip's  going  away?" 
asked  Mrs.  Martin,  as  Ted  and  Janet  went 
down  the  street  one  way  while  Shorty  took 
the  other  direction. 

"I  can't  be  sure,"  answered  the  father  of 
the  Curlytops.  "He  looks  like  an  honest 
young  man,  but  if  he  knew  what  a  valuable 
dog  Tip  was  he  might  have  let  some  friend 
of  his  step  up  and  take  away  the  pet  ani- 
mal." 


84          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"But  wouldn't  he  have  allowed  both  of 
the  dogs  to  be  taken — Top  as  well  as  Tip?" 
asked  Mrs.  Martin. 

"Maybe  there  wasn't  time  to  take  but  the 
one,"  her  husband  explained.  "And  per- 
haps I  am  wrong,  and  Shorty  is  right.  Tip 
may  have  seen  some  other  dog  on  the  far  side 
of  the  street,  and  have  jumped  out  of  the  car 
to  go  up  to  him.  It's  too  bad,  but  maybe 
we'll  get  him  back." 

"I  hope  the  children,  don't  go  so  far  away 
that  they  are  lost,  too,"  remarked  Mrs.  Mar- 
tin. 

"I  think  they'll  not  go  far,"  said  her  hus- 
band. ' '  Oh,  no,  you  don 't  I "  he  suddenly  ex- 
claimed. ' '  Come  back  here !  We  don 't  want 
to  chase  you!"  and  he  made  a  hasty  grab 
for  Slider,  the  pet  alligator,  who  seemed  to 
want  to  get  out  of  his  glass-sided  tank.  "  I  '11 
be  glad  when  we- get  Uncle  Toby's  menagerie 
safely  home,"  said  Mr.  Martin. 

"So  shall  I,"  his  wife  added.  "Though 
the  animals  seem  very  nice.  Trouble  loves 
Snuff  already." 

"Oh,  I  suppose  we  shall  get  to  like  them 
all,"  agreed  Mr.  Martin.  "We'll  have  to  let 
Ted  and  Janet  make  places  for  them  in  the 
barn.  It  is  warm  weather  now,  and  even  the 


A  Fuzzy  Burglar  85 

tropical  animals,  like  the  monkey,  can  stay 
out  there." 

"I  wonder  if  the  parrot  will  talk  much?" 
ventured  Mrs.  Martin.  "I  have  always 
rather  wished  for  a  talking  parrot.  Hello, 
Polly!"  she  called  to  the  red  and  green  bird 
in  his  cage. 

"Hello,  Polly!"  answered  Mr.  Nip.  "I'm 
a  crack-crack-cracker!"  he  shouted  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  and  several  persons,  passing 
along  the  street,  turned  to  smile  at  the  Mar- 
tins with  their  automobile  load  of  pets. 
Then  Mr.  Mp  began  to  whistle,  so  very  much 
like  a  boy,  that  Skyrocket,  Ted's  dog,  im- 
agined his  master  was  whistling  to  him,  and 
barked  in  answer.  Then  Top,  the  remaining 
pet  poodle,  also  began  to  bark,  and  Jack,  the 
monkey,  chattered  in  his  own  queer  way. 

"I'm  a  crack-crack-cracker!"  Mr.  Mp 
shouted  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  and  by  this 
time  quite  a  little  crowd  had  gathered  around 
the  automobile. 

"I  wish  we  were  at  home!"  exclaimed 
Mrs.  Martin,  who  did  not  like  so  many 
strange  persons  staring  at  her  and  her  hus- 
band and  Trouble.  But  Trouble,  who  was 
trying  to  smooth  down  the  fluffy  fur  of  the 
Persian  cat,  did  not  seem  to  mind. 


86          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"What's  this — a  traveling  circus?"  asked 
a  policeman,  stepping  up  to  the  side  of  the 
car.  "You  have  to  get  a  permit  if  you're 
going  to  give  a  parade,"  he  added  to  Mr. 
Martin. 

"Oh,  I'm  not  going  to  give  a  parade,"  an- 
swered the  father  of  the  Curlytops.  "We 
are  just  waiting  to  see  if  we  can  find  one  of 
our  pets,  a  trick  dog  that  ran  away — or  that 
was  taken  away,"  and  he  explained  what 
had  happened. 

"Do  you  know  anything  about  that  young 
man  —  Shorty  he  called  himself  —  who 
watched  our  auto  while  we  ate  ?"  asked  Mrs. 
Martin. 

"I  know  him — yes,"  the  policeman  an- 
swered. "Sometimes  he  is  bad,  again  he  is 
good.  I'd  say  he  was  bad  more  often  than 
he  was  good." 

"Just  what  I  was  afraid  of!"  exclaimed 
Mr.  Martin.  "I  think  Shorty  knows  more 
about  the  missing  dog  than  he  has  told  us.  I 
don't  believe  he'll  come  back  to  get  the  dol- 
lar I  promised  him." 

"Here  come  Ted  and  Janet,"  said  their 
mother.  "They  didn't  find  Tip,  either." 

The  Curlytops  were  hurrying  along  the 


A  Fuzzy  Burglar 87 

street  toward  the  automobile.  They  saw  the 
policeman  and  began  to  run. 

"Oh,  did  you  find  him ?  Did  you  get  Tip 
back?"  gasped  Janet,  as  she  reached  the 
car.  "Did  the  policeman  find  him?" 

"No/'  answered  her  mother.  "Did  you 
see  anything  of  our  new  dog,  Curlytops?" 

Ted  and  Janet  sadly  shook  their  heads. 
They  had  looked  up  and  down  several 
streets,  they  explained,  but  Tip  was  nowhere 
in  sight.  Nor  had  they  seen  Shorty  since 
he,  also,  started  to  look  for  the  missing  ani- 
mal. I 

"Well,  we  can't  stay  here  much  longer," 
decided  Mr.  Martin.  "If  we  do,  some  more 
of  Uncle  Toby's  pets  may  run  away.  We'd 
better  get  home.  I  '11  leave  you  my  name  and 
address,"  said  the  father  of  the  Curlytops 
to  the  policeman.  "And  if  you  hear  any- 
thing of  the  missing  dog  please  let  me 
know." 

"I  will,"  promised  the  officer.  "And  if  I 
see  Shorty  I'll  make  him  tell  me  what  really 
happened.  Sometimes  he  plays  jokes,  and 
this  may  have  been  one  of  those  times." 

Mr.  Martin  waited  a  little  longer,  and 
when  the  young  man  did  not  come  back,  and 
when  there  was  no  sign  of  the  missing  Tip, 


88         The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

it  was  thought  best  to  start  for  Cresco.  So, 
with  one  of  Uncle  Toby's  pets  missing,  the. 
trip  was  resumed. 

"You  certainly  have  pets  enough,  even 
without  Tip,"  said  Mrs.  Martin,  as  they 
neared  the  home  of  the  Curlytops. 

"Yes,  but  we  want  Tip,"  said  Teddy. 
"We  can't  give  a  good  show  with  only  one 
trick  dog,  'specially  when  they  are  supposed 
to  work  as  a  team — one  on  the  other's  back. " 

"Are  you  going  to  give  a  show?"  asked 
his  mother. 

"Yes,"  Teddy  answered.  "We'll  give  a 
show  and  make  money.  We  can  ask  real 
money  to  see  all  the  animals  we  have,"  and 
he  looked  down  at  the  parrot's  cage,  the  box 
of  Jack,  the  monkey,  the  cage  of  the  white 
mice  and  rats,  and  the  tank  of  the  alligator. 

"Perhaps  you  could  train  Skyrocket  to 
take  the  place  of  Tip,"  said  Mr.  Martin. 

"Maybe,"  agreed  Teddy.  "But  Sky- 
rocket isn't  the  same  kind  of  a  dog,  and  Tip 
and  Top  looked  so  cute  together." 

"Just  like  twins,"  added  Janet.  "Oh,  I 
hope  we  get  Tip  back." 

They  could  not  be  sure  whether  the  pet 
dog  had  run  away  himself,  or  whether  some- 
one had  reached  in  over  the  side  of  the  car 


89 


and  lifted  him  out.  Someone  may  have  done 
that  while  Shorty  turned  his  back,  saying 
nothing  and  not  trying  to  stop  him. 

"I  am  sorry,  but  I  think  Shorty  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  Tip  getting  away,"  said 
Mr.  Martin.  "If  that  young  man  had  been 
honest  he  would  have  come  back  and  told  us 
he  couldn't  find  the  dog.  I  should  not  have 
allowed  Shorty  to  watch  our  auto.  But  it  is 
too  late,  now,  to  be  sorry." 

The  Curlytops  reached  their  home  just  be- 
fore supper,  and  there  was  so  much  to  do, 
making  places  in  the  barn  for  Uncle  Toby's 
pets,  seeing  that  they  were  comfortable,  and 
that  they  could  not  get  out  during  the  night, 
that,  for  a  time,  Ted  and  Janet  forgot  about 
the  loss  of  Tip.  If  he  had  been  the  only  pet, 
of  course  they  would  have  missed  him  very 
much.  But  they  had  so  many  now  that  they 
were  kept  busy.  Still,  they  wished,  very 
much,  that  Tip  could  be  found. 

"For  if  we  don't  find  him,  we  can't  have 
half  so  many  tricks  in  our  circus  show,"  said 
Teddy. 

In  due  time  the  pets  were  put  away  for 
the  night.  The  barn  was  a  good  place  for 
them,  and  after  they  had  been  fed  and  given 
fresh  water,  which  all  pets  need  as  much  as 


90          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

they  do  food,  the  children  left  the  animals  to 
themselves. 

"In  the  morning  we'll  start  getting  ready 
for  the  circus, "  declared  Ted. 

"Will  dey  be  han'-ordan  music?"  asked 
Trouble. 

"Well,  well  have  some  kind  of  music,  if  I 
have  to  toot  on  some  tissue  paper  over  a 
comb/'  answered  Teddy. 

Tired  out  with  their  two  days'  automobile 
trip,  the  Curlytops  were  soon  ready  for  bed. 
Trouble  went  to  sleep  earlier  than  did  Ted 
or  Janet,  but  soon  they,  too,  were  ready  to 
go  to  their  rooms. 

"Let  us  feed  the  animals — don't  you  do 
it,  please,"  Ted  begged  of  his  father  and 
mother.  "Janet  and  I  want  to  make  believe 
we  are  keepers  in  a  circus,  feeding  lions  and 
tigers." 

"All  right,  you  may  feed  them,"  agreed 
their  mother. 

How  long  they  had  been  asleep  neither 
Ted  nor  Janet  knew,  but  they  were  suddenly 
awakened  in  the  night  by  hearing  screams. 
The  screams  came  from  the  open  window  of 
the  house  next  door,  where  Mrs.  Blake,  a 
very  nice  lady,  lived  with  her  two  servants. 
Her  husband  was  dead,  and  her  children  had 


A  Fuzzy  Burglar  91 

married  and  gone  away.  Mrs.  Blake's  bed- 
room was  opposite  the  adjoining  sleeping 
rooms  of  Ted  and  Janet,  and  often  the  Cur- 
lytops  would  call  "good  morning"  across  to 
Mrs.  Blake. 

But  this  time  it  was  Mrs.  Blake  who  called, 
and  she  did  not  exactly  call,  she  screamed 
in  the  middle  of  the  night. 

"Help!  Help!"  cried  the  lady  from  her 
open  window.  "Mr.  Martin!  Mary  Ann! 
Patrick!"  (these  were  her  servants)  "come 
and  get  him.  A  little  fuzzy  burglar  is  in  my 
room !  Come  and  get  the  fuzzy  burglar ! ' ' 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SLIDER  GOES  SLIDING 

TEDDY  and  Janet,  sleeping  in  their  rooms 
on  the  side  of  their  house  nearest  to  the 
home  of  Mrs.  Blake,  were  the  first  to  be 
awakened  by  the  screams  of  the  frightened 
lady.  For  that  Mrs.  Blake  was  frightened 
anyone  could  tell  who  heard  her  cry. 

* '  Come  and  take  the  fuzzy  burglar !  Take 
the  fuzzy  burglar  out  of  my  room!"  she  ex- 
claimed again  and  again. 

By  this  time  Teddy  had  jumped  out  of  his 
bed  and  had  run  to  his  window.  At  the  same 
time  Janet,  in  the  next  room,  had  jumped 
out  of  her  bed  and  had  run  to  her  window. 
Both  children  looked  across  the  yard  to  the 
home  of  Mrs.  Blake.  They  could  see  her,  in 
the  moonlight,  standing  at  her  window. 

" What's  the  matter,  Curlytops?"  called 
their  mother,  across  the  hall.  She  had  been 
awakened,  not  so  much  by  the  cries  of  Mrs. 

92 


Slider  Goes  Sliding  93 

Blake  as  by  the  movements  of  Ted  and 
Janet.  "What's  the  matter?"  asked  Mrs. 
Martin. 

"There's  a  funny  burglar  over  in  Mrs. 
Blake's  house,  and  she  wants  someone  to 
come  and  get  it,"  answered  Janet. 

"No,  she  didn't  say  funny  burglar — she 
said  fuzzy!"  declared  Ted. 

"Well,  anyhow,  it's  a  burglar/'  declared 
Janet. 

And  from  the  other  house  again  came  the 
appeal : 

"Patrick!  Mary  Ann!  Mr.  Martin! 
Somebody!  Come  and  get  the  fuzzy  bur- 
glar!" 

By  this  time  Mr.  Martin,  who  had  gotten 
up,  had  been  told  by  his  wife  that  something 
was  wrong  in  Mrs.  Blake's  house.  He  put 
on  some  clothes  and  hurried  downstairs,  car- 
rying a  flashlight  in  one  hand  and  his  re- 
volver in  the  other. 

"Oh!"  exclaimed  Janet,  who,  with  Teddy, 
watched  her  father  go,  "Daddy's  going  to 
shoot  the  funny  burglar." 

"Fuzzy  burglar!"  corrected  Ted. 

But  Janet  had  covered  her  ears  with  her 
hands,  so  she  would  not  hear  her  father  shoot 
his  revolver — in  case  he  found  anything  to 


94          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

shoot  at — so  the  little  girl  did  not  hear  what 
her  brother  said. 

Mr.  Martin  ran  across  the  lawn  to  the 
front  porch  of  Mrs.  Blake's  house.  By  this 
time  several  other  neighbors  had  been  awak- 
ened by  the  lady's  screams,  and  some  of  the 
men  came  out,  partly  dressed,  to  see  what 
was  going  on. 

"Come  in,  Mr.  Martin,"  said  Patrick,  as 
he  opened  the  door  for  the  father  of  the 
Curlytops.  Patrick  was  Mrs.  Blake's  gar- 
dener. 

"What  is  it,  Patrick?"  asked  Mr.  Martin, 
holding  his  revolver  in  one  hand  and  the 
flashlight  in  the  other.  "Where  is  the  bur- 
glar?" 

"I  didn't  see  anything,  Mr.  Martin,"  an- 
swered the  gardener.  "I  heard  Mrs.  Blake 
scream,  and  I  got  up,  and  so  did  Mary  Ann, 
the  cook,  but  we  can't  find  anything!" 

"But  there  is  a  burglar  here!"  said  Mrs. 
Blake  from  the  head  of  the  stairs,  where  she 
now  stood.  "I  was  awakened  by  a  noise  in 
my  room,  and  when  I  looked  at  the  window, 
I  saw  in  the  moonlight,  sitting  on  the  sill, 
a  fuzzy  little  old  man.  He's  a  burglar,  I'm 
sure  of  it,  and  I  wish  the  police  would 
come!" 


Slider  Goes  Sliding 95 

"I  think  there  are  enough  of  us  here  now, 
Mrs.  Blake,  to  look  after  two  or  three  bur- 
glars without  the  police,"  said  Mr.  Martin, 
as  he  glanced  at  several  neighbors  who  had 
come  in.  "Let's  have  a  look  around,"  he 
went  on.  "I  fancy,  if  there  was  a  burglar, 
that  he  has  gotten  away  by  this  time." 

"I  hope  he  has  gotten  away,  and  will  never 
come  back,"  said  Mrs.  Blake.  "But  I  wish 
you  gentlemen  would  look,  just  the  same." 

So  Mr.  Martin  and  the  other  men  neigh- 
bors, with  Patrick,  the  gardener,  to  help,  be- 
gan a  search  of  the  house.  They  went  to 
Mrs.  Blake's  room  first. 

"I  don't  see  any  burglar,"  said  Mr.  Mar- 
tin. He  did  not  need  his  electric  flashlight 
now,  as  the  house  had  been  lighted  from  top 
to  bottom  by  Mrs.  Blake's  two  servants. 

"There  he  is!  There  he  is!"  suddenly 
cried  Mrs.  Blake.  "Under  that  big  chair. 
There's  the  fuzzy  burglar!" 

Mr.  Martin  and  two  or  three  other  men 
rushed  over  to  the  chair  at  which  Mrs.  Blake 
pointed.  Mr.  Martin  stooped  down,  and 
then  he  laughed. 

"What's  the  matter?"  asked  Mr.  Tyndall, 
a  neighbor  from  across  the  street. 

"I'll  show  you,"  answered  Mr.  Martin,  as 


96          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

he  thrust  his  arm  under  the  chair.  "Come 
out  of  there,  Jack!"  he  went  on,  and  out 
from  beneath  the  chair  he  pulled — Jack, 
Uncle  Toby's  pet  monkey!  Poor  Jack  was 
as  much  frightened  as  Mrs.  Blake  had  been, 
but  he  cowered  down  in  Mr.  Martin's  arms 
and  looked  up  into  the  face  of  the  father  of 
the  Curlytops  as  if  saying : 

"Please  don't  whip  me!  I  didn't  mean 
to  be  bad!" 

The  men  who  had  come  in  to  help  hunt  a 
burglar  looked  at  the  fuzzy  monkey  in  Mr. 
Martin's  arms,  and  then  burst  out  laughing. 

"Yes,  it  must  have  been  him  that  I  saw 
perched  on  my  window,"  said  Mrs.  Blake. 
"In  my  alarm,  it  did  look  like  a  fuzzy,  little 
old  man,  and  of  course  I  thought  it  was  a 
burglar.  I  was  foolish.  It  was  a  very  small 
burglar.  I  didn't  know  you  kept  monkeys, 
Mr.  Martin." 

"I  only  keep  one,"  he  said,  "and  I  don't 
exactly  keep  that,  myself.  It's  one  of  the 
children's  pets.  It  used  to  belong  to  my 
Uncle  Toby,  and  we  just  brought  Jack  home 
this  afternoon.  We  put  him  in  the  barn  with 
the  white  mice  and  the  alligator " 

"Don't  tell  me  there's  an  alligator  run- 
ning around  loose ! ' '  cried  Mrs.  Blake.  ' l  Oh, 


Slider  Goes  Sliding  97 

a  monkey  is  bad  enouguh,  but  an  alli- 
gator  " 

"It's  only  a  little  one,"  said  Mr.  Martin. 
"And  I'm  sorry  Jack  got  loose  and  fright- 
ened you.  I'll  see,  after  this,  that  the  pets 
don't  get  out  at  night." 

"Oh,  I'm  sure  I  don't  want  to  spoil  the 
children's  pleasure  in  the  least,"  went  on 
Mrs.  Blake.  "But  I  didn't  know  you  had 
such  a  menagerie  next  door  to  me,  Mr.  Mar- 
tin." 

"We  didn't  have  until  to-day — or  rather, 
yesterday,  for  it  is  now  past  midnight,"  Mr. 
Martin  explained.  "My  Uncle  Toby  left  me 
his  collection  of  animals  when  he  went  away 
suddenly,  and  Ted  and  Janet  say  they  are  go- 
ing to  have  a  circus." 

"Save  me  a  ticket!"  cried  Mr.  Hanson, 
who  lived  two  or  three  houses  down  the 
street. 

"And  I  want  one,"  added  Mr.  Fenton. 
"If  the  Curlytops  give  a  circus  I  want  to 
come  to  it ! " 

"So  do  it!"  cried  several  other  neighbors, 
who  had  turned  out  to  see  what  all  the  ex- 
citement was  about. 

"Ill  tell  Teddy  and  Janet,"  promised  Mr. 
Martin,  as  he  carried  Jack  out  of  Mrs. 


98          The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

Blake's  house,  much  to  the  relief  of  that 
lady,  though  she  was  rather  fond  of  animals 
in  general. 

So  the  excitement  quieted  down,  and  after 
it  was  all  over  a  policeman  came  along,  one 
of  the  neighbors  having  telephoned  in  the 
first  alarm.  But  there  was  nothing  for  the 
officer  to  do. 

"Now,  Curlytops, "  said  Mr.  Martin,  at 
breakfast  the  next  morning  when  the  excite- 
ment of  the  night  was  being  talked  over,  "if 
you  are  to  keep  Uncle  Toby's  pets  here,  we 
must  be  careful  that  they  do  not  bother  the 
neighbors.  Your  own  dog  and  cat  are  very 
good,  and  make  no  trouble.  But  with  a  mon- 
key, a  parrot,  another  dog  and  cat,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  alligator  and  the  white  mice, 
we  may  cause  a  lot  of  trouble  to  our  good, 
neighbors.  And  we  wouldn't  want  to  do 
that." 

"What  do  you  want  us  to  do,  Daddy?" 
asked  Ted.    He  had  just  fed  the  two  dogs- 
Skyrocket  and  Top,  while  Janet  had  poured 
out  some  milk  for  Turnover  and  Snuff,  the 
two  cats. 

"We  must  make  cages  that  can  be  locked 
at  night,  or  else  we  must  make  sure  that  the 
barn  is  tightly  closed,"  said  his  father.  "I 


Slider  Goes  Sliding 99 

don't  suppose,  during  the  day,  that  there 
will  be  much  trouble.  It  is  at  night  we  must 
be  careful.  No  one  likes  to  be  awakened  by 
seeing  a  monkey  on  the  window  sill." 

"I  wouldn't  care,"  said  Teddy. 

"Well,  ladies  like  Mrs.  Blake  don't  care 
for  such  thrills,"  returned  Mr.  Martin,  with 
a  laugh.  "So  we  must  be  sure  that  all  the 
members  of  our  menagerie  are  safely  caged 
each  night.  I  shall  depend  on  you  Curlytops 
for  that." 

"We'll  be  careful!"  promised  Teddy. 

"I'll  help  you  lock  up  every  night,"  added 
Janet. 

"Well,  then  I  will  leave  the  pets  to  you 
Curlytops,"  said  their  father.  "It  is  on 
your  account  that  your  mother  and  I  are 
keeping  them  instead  of  selling  them,  and 
while  they  will  be  some  care,  we  do  not  mind 
if  you  do  your  share." 

"The  first  thing  I'm  going  to  do,"  said 
Teddy,  when  he  and  Janet  were  left  to  them- 
selves, their  father  going  to  his  store,  "is  to 
see  how  many  tricks  Top  can  do." 

"Isn't  it  too  bad  we  haven't  Tip?"  said 
Janet.  ' l  They  were  so  cute  together ! ' ' 

"Yes,"  agreed  her  brother.  "But  maybe 
I  can  make  Skyrocket  let  Top  ride  on  his 


100        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

back,  and  teach  'em  some  other  tricks.  Come 
here,  Topi"  he  called  to  the  white  poodle 
with  the  black  spot  on  top  of  his  head. 
"Let's  see  you  walk  on  your  hind  legs." 

Top  was  very  willing  to  do  this,  and  while 
Ted  and  Janet  sat  on  boxes  in  the  barn,  with 
their  other  pets  around  them,  Uncle  Toby's 
poodle  went  through  his  performance.  When 
he  had  walked  on  his  hind  legs  in  a  little 
circle  he  suddenly  sneezed. 

"Oh,  maybe  he's  catching  cold!"  cried 
Janet. 

"No,  I  think  that  was  a  trick,"  suggested 
Teddy.  t '  Sneeze,  Top ! "  he  ordered.  Surely 
enough,  the  poodle  sneezed,  and  he  would  do 
it  every  time  Teddy  or  Janet  told  him  to. 

"Oh,  he  knows  two  tricks,  besides  the  one 
he  does  with  Tip,"  Teddy  said  in  delight. 
"Maybe  he  does  a  lot  more.  I  wish  Uncle 
Toby  had  written  them  down,  so  we'd  know 
what  the  dogs  can  do  for  our  circus." 

"We  can  write  to  Uncle  Toby,  when  daddy 
gets  the  address,  and  ask  about  the  tricks," 
Janet  said. 

"Yes,"  agreed  Teddy,  "we  can  do  that. 
I  wonder  if  Slider  can  do  any  tricks?"  he 
asked,  when  Top  had  been  rewarded  for  his 
efforts  with  a  little  bone  to  gnaw. 


SLIDER   WENT   SLIDING   DOWN*   THE   SMOOTH    SLANTING   ROARD. 
'The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets."  Page  102 


Slider  Goes  Sliding 101 

"Do  alligators  do  tricks  ?"  asked  Janet,  as 
she  reached  in  through  the  bars  of  Mr.  Nip's 
cage  and  scratched  the  head  of  the  red  and 
green  parrot. 

"I  guess  they  do/'  Teddy  answered.  "If 
they  don't  we'll  teach  our  Slider  to  do  a 
trick.  I'm  going  to  take  him  out  of  his 
tank." 

The  cage  of  the  little  pet  alligator  was  a 
sort  of  tank,  in  the  bottom  of  which  was  some 
water,  and  in  this  were  little  pebbles,  like 
those  in  some  goldfish  bowls.  The  tank  stood 
near  a  window  in  the  barn  where  the  sun 
shone  in,  for  Mr.  Martin  had  told  the  Curly- 
tops  that  their  pets  who  lived  in  warm,  or 
tropical,  countries  must  be  kept  where  it  was 
warm  and  sunny.  That  was  what  they  were 
used  to  in  their  native  lands. 

So  Slider  had  a  warm,  sunny  place,  and 
now  Teddy  took  the  scaly  creature  out  of  the 
tank  and  put  him  on  a  box,  where  the  sun 
could  shine  on  the  long-tailed  fellow. 

As  it  happened,  there  was  a  long,  smooth 
board  resting  on  the  upper  edge  of  this  box 
and  extending  down  to  the  barn  floor.  Teddy 
had  laid  the  board  slanting  fashion  on  the 
box  when  he  was  making  room  for  the  cage 
of  Jack,  the  monkey. 


102        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

For  a  little  while,  after  he  had  been  placed 
in  the  warm  sun  on  top  of  the  box,  the  alli- 
gator remained  quiet,  slowly  blinking  his 
eyes.  Then  he  began  to  crawl. 

"That  isn't  much  of  a  trick, "  declared 
Janet. 

"Oh,  I  haven't  started  to  teach  him  a  trick 
yet, ' '  her  brother  answered.  ' ' 1  'm  trying  to 
think  what  an  alligator  can  best  do." 

But  Slider,  as  he  was  called,  because  he 
seemed  to  slide  around  in  such  a  slow,  easy 
fashion,  took  matters  into  his  own  claws,  so 
to  speak. 

He  crawled  around  on  his  box  top  and 
then  managed  to  clamber  up  on  the  slanting 
board,  one  edge  of  which  rested  on  the  box. 

"I  wonder  if  he  is  going  to  slide  down- 
hill," said  Janet  in  a  low  voice,  as  if  she  did 
not  want  to  disturb  the  little  alligator. 

And  then,  just  as  if  he  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  do  that  very  thing,  Slider  wiggled 
along  until  he  was  only  holding  to  the  edge 
of  the  slanting  board  by  his  two  hind  feet, 
while  his  long  tail  was  only  partly  on  the 
box.  A  moment  later,  giving  himself  a  hitch 
like  a  boy  getting  his  sled  over  the  top  of 
the  hill,  Slider  went  sliding  down  the  smooth, 
slanting  board. 


Slider  Goes  Sliding 103 

Down  he  slid  until  he  reached  the  barn 
floor,  and  as  there  was  some  smooth  straw 
at  the  point  where  the  board  rested,  Slider 
slid  across  this  straw  for  several  feet. 

"Oh,  did  you  see  that?"  cried  Janet. 

"See  it?  I  should  say  I  .did!"  cried 
Teddy.  ' l  Slider  slid  all  right !  That 's  going 
to  be  his  trick!  I'll  make  a  longer  board 
slide,  and  I'll  put  the  lower  end  in  a  pan  of 
water,  so  when  Slider  slides  down  he'll  make 
a  splash !  That  will  be  a  fine  trick  for  the 
circus!  Come  on,  Slider,  slide  again!" 

Teddy  was  just  lifting  up  his  pet  alligator, 
intending  to  put  him  on  the  top  of  the  slant- 
ing board,  when  Trouble  was  heard  calling : 

"Oh,  come  an'  'ook  at  Snuff!  Come  an' 
'ookatSnufH  He's  doin' suffin' funny!" 


CHAPTER  IX 

MRS.  JOHNSON'S  BABY 

TEDDY  and  Janet  turned  their  attention 
from  Slider,  the  pet  alligator  whose  new 
trick  they  had  just  discovered,  to  Trouble, 
their  little  brother. 

' '  What 's  that  you  say  ?  "  asked  Teddy,  put- 
ting the  alligator  back  again  on  the  box  on 
which  stood  the  tank  of  water. 

"You  ought  to  see  Snuff,"  repeated  the 
little  fellow. 

" What's  he  doing?"  asked  Janet. 

"Oh,  he's  rollin'  ober  an'  ober  in  yard," 
explained  Trouble,  so  excited  that  he  did 
not  take  time  to  talk  as  straight  as  usual. 
"He's  rollin' funny!" 

"Oh,  maybe  the  poor  cat  has  a  fit!"  ex- 
claimed Janet.  "That  would  be  too  bad, 
Ted!  He  couldn't  be  in  our  circus." 

"I'll  go  see,"  offered  Teddy.  He  had  been 
among  animals  so  long,  and  was  so  kind  to 

104 


Mrs.  Johnson's  Baby  105 

them,  and  he  liked  them  so  much,  that  he 
was  not  afraid  to  try  to  help  even  a  sick 
one.  And  a  cat  that  has  a  fit  is  ill,  and  needs 
medicine.  Sometimes  Turnover  became  ill, 
and  had  to  be  doctored,  and  more  than  once 
Skyrocket,  the  dog,  was  in  need  of  some 
simple  home  remedy. 

So  the  first  thought  of  Janet  and  Ted, 
when  Trouble  told  them  that  Snuff,  the  cat 
they  had  brought  from  Uncle  Toby's,  was 
"rollin'  " — their  first  thought,  I  say,  was, 
that  Snuff  had  a  fit. 

"You  stay  here  and  watch  Slider,"  said 
Ted  to  his  sister,  "and  111  go  out  into  the 
yard  and  see  what's  the  matter  with  the 
cat." 

"I  go,  too,"  added  Trouble.  "I  Ike  to 
see  Snuff  roll!" 

"No,  you  had  better  stay  here  with  me," 
suggested  Janet,  and  she  ran  to  the  barn 
door  to  catch  hold  of  her  little  brother  be- 
fore he  could  toddle  after  Teddy. 

"I  want  to  go!  Lemme  go!"  cried 
Trouble,  and  he  struggled  to  get  away  from 
Janet. 

"No,  you  must  stay  with  sister,"  said  the 
little  girl,  as  pleasantly  as  she  could.  "Look, 
111  show  you  a  new  trick  that  Slider,  our 


106        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

pet  alligator,  can  do.  Trouble  like  to  see 
Slider  do  a  trick ?"  she  asked.  "Come  on, 
Trouble!  See  Slider  do  his  sliding  trick!" 

Baby  William  was  not  proof  against  this 
attraction.  He  ceased  trying  to  pull  away 
from  Janet  and  let  her  lead  him  back  to  the 
alligator's  tank.  There  Janet  took  up  the 
scaly,  long-tailed  creature,  which  was  idly 
crawling  around,  and  put  him  on  top  of  the 
slanting  board,  as  Teddy  had  been  about  to 
do  when  Trouble  told  about  Snuff.  Janet 
did  not  mind  picking  up  Slider. 

The  Curlytops  were  not  afraid  of  animals 
that  many  girls  and  boys  do  not  like  to 
handle.  Janet  and  Teddy  knew  a  great  deal 
about  snakes,  and  they  knew  that  only  two 
kinds  that  lived  in  their  State  were  harmful. 
These  were  the  rattlesnake  and  the  copper- 
head. All  other  kinds,  such  as  black  snakes, 
milk  snakes  and  garter  snakes  can  never 
harm  a  person.  Teddy  and  Janet  knew  this, 
and  they  had  been  taught  by  their  father 
that  these  harmless  snakes  did  a  great  deal 
of  good  by  eating  rats  and  mice  that,  other- 
wise, would  spoil  the  farmers'  grain. 

So  it  was  that  Janet  had  learned  to  pick 
up  even  large  black  snakes,  knowing  they 
would  not  harm  her,  and  once  she  and  her 


Mrs.  Johnson's  Baby 107 

brother  had  even  tamed  a  good-sized  black 
snake,  so  that  it  would  let  the  children  pick 
it  up,  and  it  would  lie,  coiled,  in  their  lap. 

Snakes  can  not  be  tamed,  or  made  to  do 
tricks  like  other  animals,  and  the  stories  of 
' i  snake  charmers ' '  are  mostly  untrue.  Some 
snakes  may  rise  and  sway  when  music  is 
played,  and  the  snakes  that  circus  per- 
formers handle  are  just  as  harmless  as  the 
garden  snakes  you  see.  Some  of  the  larger 
ones,  however,  are  very  powerful,  and  can 
twist  themselves  around  a  person  or  an  ani- 
mal strongly  enough  to  kill.  But  the  per- 
formers know  how  to  handle  snakes,  using 
slow  and  gentle  movements,  so  the  reptiles 
do  not  mind  it. 

Thus  it  was  that  Janet  had  no  fear  of 
Slider,  the  pet  alligator.  She  lifted  him  up, 
put  him  on  top  of  the  slanting  board  and, 
just  as  he  had  done  before,  Slider  went  slid- 
ing down. 

' '  Oh !    Oh ! "  cried  Trouble  in  delight. 

"Isn't  that  a  good  trick ?"  asked  Janet, 
laughing  with  her  little  brother.  "Aren't 
you  glad  you  stayed  with  me." 

"Yes,  I  is  glad,"  declared  Trouble.  "Now 
Trouble  make  Slider  slide." 

"All  right,"  agreed  Janet. 


108        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

Baby  William  was  not  much  more  afraid 
of  animals,  snakes  included,  than  were 
Teddy  and  Janet.  So  his  sister  let  him  pick 
up  Slider  and  give  the  alligator  another 
coast  down  the  board  hill. 

I  am  not  saying  that  Slider  would  have 
done  this  trick  himself,  even  after  much 
practice.  It  was  mostly  an  accident,  I  be- 
lieve, his  coasting  down  the  board  when  he 
got  to  the  slanting  edge.  The  alligator  just 
naturally  crawled  around  and,  reaching  the 
edge,  he  fell  over,  and  coasted  down.  Janet 
and  Trouble  put  him  close  to  the  edge  on 
purpose,  so  he  would  go  down,  knowing  that 
it  did  not  hurt  the  alligator  in  the  least.  I 
suppose  a  mud  turtle  would  have  done  the 
same  "trick." 

Reptiles  have  a  very  small  brain,  and  can 
not  be  taught  to  do  tricks  as  can  dogs,  horses 
and  cats,  and  the  alligator,  the  turtle  and  the 
snake  belong  to  the  class  known  as  reptiles. 
So  though  the  children  called  what  Slider 
did  a  "trick,"  it  was  more  like  an  accident, 
though  it  was  not  a  harmful  one. 

"Me  make  Slider  slide,"  exclaimed 
Trouble,  and,  surely  enough,  when  he  had 
put  Uncle  Toby's  scaly  pet  on  the  board, 
down  the  alligator  slid. 


Mrs.  Johnson's  Baby 109 

Trouble  and  Janet  were  enjoying  them- 
selves in  this  fashion,  and  Janet  was  wonder- 
ing what  Teddy  was  doing,  when  that  young 
member  of  the  Curlytop  family  stuck  his 
head  in  through  the  open  barn  door  and 
called : 

"Come  on  out  and  see  Snuff!" 

"Oh,  has  he  a  bad  fit?"  asked  Janet. 

"He  hasn't  got  a  fit  at  all!"  answered 
Ted.  "He's  doing  one  of  the  best  tricks  you 
ever  saw,  and  it  will  be  dandy  in  our  circus  I 
Come  and  look  at  him!" 

"Oh,  I'm  glad  he  hasn't  a  fit!"  cried 
Janet.  "Come  on,  Trouble!" 

But  now  there  was  more  trouble  with 
Trouble,  for  he  wanted  to  stay  and  play  with 
Slider. 

"Me  see  Slider  slide  more!"  demanded 
the  little  fellow.  And  it  was  as  hard  for 
Janet  to  get  him  to  come  out  of  the  barn 
now,  as  it  had  been  to  make  him  stay  in  be- 
fore. 

"Oh,  come  on  and  see  Snuff  do  his  funny 
trick !"  she  begged,  and  finally  Trouble  came 
away  from  the  alligator. 

"And  it  sure  is  a  funny  trick!"  laughed 
Ted,  who  had  waited  for  his  little  brother 
and  Janet  to  come  out.  "Just  you  see!" 


110        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

When  the  two  Curlytops  and  Trouble  hur- 
ried around  the  corner  of  the  barn,  Teddy 
pointed  to  Snuff,  the  new,  big  cat  that  had 
been  brought  from  Uncle  Toby's  house. 

Snuff  was  on  top  of  a  large  leather  ball, 
and  it  was  rolling  around  the  yard,  with  him 
on  top  of  it,  just  as  a  clown  in  the  circus 
stands  upright  on  a  large,  painted  ball,  and 
rolls  himself  around  the  ring.  This  ball 
was  a  football  that  Teddy  had  owned  for 
some  time.  The  outside  was  leather,  and  in- 
side was  a  rubber  bladder  that  could  be 
blown  up.  It  was  a  round  ball,  of  the  kind 
used  in  "  Association "  games,  and  not  for 
"  Rugby, "  which  most  of  the  football  elevens 
play  in  this  country.  The  " Rugby"  ball  is 
shaped  like  a  watermelon,  but  the  other  is 
more  like  a  muskmelon,  and  it  was  on  this 
latter  kind  of  a  ball  that  Snuff  was  rolling 
around  the  yard,  just  like  a  circus  clown. 

"Was  this  what  Trouble  meant  when  he 
said  Snuff  was  rolling?"  asked  Janet. 

"Yes,"  answered  Teddy.  "I'm  glad 
Uncle  Toby's  cat  didn't  have  a  fit.  Now  we 
can  make  him  do  this  trick  in  our  animal 


circus. ': 


"Oh,  it's  a  lovely  trick,"  declared  Janet. 
"I  wonder  how  he  learned  it?" 


Mrs.  Johnson's  Baby  111 

"Maybe  Uncle  Toby  or  the  lady  who 
owned  him  first  taught  Snuff  to  roll  on  top 
of  a  football,"  Ted  answered,  while  the  yel- 
lowish brown  cat  kept  on  stepping  lightly 
this  way  and  that,  making  the  ball  turn  over 
and  over.  "I  guess  Trouble  left  the  ball 
out  here  in  the  yard.  He  was  playing  with 
it  last.  Then  Snuff  must  have  come  out,  and 
when  he  saw  the  ball  he  remembered  that  he 
knew  how  to  do  a  trick  on  it.  And  he  got 
up  and  did  it  without  anyone  telling  him." 

"Maybe  he  won't  do  it  any  more,"  sug- 
gested Janet. 

"We  can  soon  see,"  Teddy  said.  "Here, 
Snuff!"  he  called  to  the  big,  friendly  cat. 
"Come  over  here,"  and  Teddy  whistled  as 
he  did  for  Turnover.  Snuff  came  as  he  was 
called,  almost  as  a  dog  might  do,  and  Turn- 
over, also  hearing  the  whistle  by  which 
Teddy  summoned  him  to  meals,  came  run- 
ning around  the  corner  of  the  barn. 

"No,  we  haven't  anything  for  you  to  eat 
now,  pussies, ' '  said  Ted,  with  a  laugh.  "But 
I'll  give  you  something  in  a  little  while  if 
Snuff  does  the  football  trick  again." 

After  petting  the  two  cats,  and  scratching 
them  under  their  ears,  which  they  seemed  to 


112        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

like  very  much,  Teddy  held  Snuff  in  his 
arms,  and  told  Janet  to  take  up  the  football. 

"Well  put  it  down  in  front  of  Snuff  and 
see  if  he  gets  up  on  it,"  suggested  Teddy. 
And  when  this  was  done  the  big  cat  from 
Uncle  Toby's  jumped  out  of  Ted's  arms,  and 
leaped  on  top  of  the  football,  rolling  it  over 
and  over  just  like  a  clown  in  a  circus. 

"Oh,  it  is  a  trick — a  real  trick  I"  cried 
Janet.  "Wouldn't  it  be  great  if  we  could 
dress  Snuff  up  in  a  little  suit  like  a  clown?" 

"Maybe  we  can,"  said  Teddy.  "But  it 
will  be  hard,  as  cats  don't  like  to  have  fixin's 
on  'em  as  much  as  dogs  do.  I  wonder  who 
taught  Snuff  that  trick?  I  guess  it  must 
have  been  Uncle  Toby." 

And,  some  time  afterward,  the  Curlytops 
learned  that  it  was  their  father's  queer,  ani- 
mal-loving uncle  who  had  taught  Snuff  to 
roll  around  on  a  football. 

"I'm  terrible  glad  Uncle  Toby  left  us  his 
collection,  aren't  you?"  asked  Janet  of  her 
brother,  when  Snuff  had  grown  tired  of  do- 
ing his  trick,  and  both  cats  were  being  fed. 

"Yes,"  agreed  Teddy,  "I  am.  First  I 
thought  it  might  be  a  collection  of  stamps  or 
coins.  But  I'm  glad  it  was  pets." 

The  Curlytops  were  going  to  have  a  great 


Mrs.  Johnson's  ~Baby 113 

deal  of  fun  with  their  pets,  they  were  sure  of 
that. 

"If  we  only  had  Tip  back,"  sighed  Janet, 
as  she  and  Teddy  sat  watching  the  cats  eat, 
talking,  meanwhile,  about  the  circus  they 
were  going  to  have  with  all  their  animals. 

"Yes,  it's  too  bad  one  of  Uncle  Toby's 
dogs  is  gone,"  agreed  Teddy.  "Of  course 
we  can  do  some  tricks  with  Top,  but  it  would 
be  better  with  the  two  of  them." 

"I  wonder  if  he  jumped  out  of  the  auto 
and  ran  away,  if  someone  picked  him  up 
off  the  seat,  or  if  that  man  Shorty  knows 
where  he  is?" 

"That's  what  I  wonder,  too,"  replied 
Teddy.  "And  I  wonder  if  we  shall  ever  get 
Tip  back?" 

But  many  strange  things  were  to  happen 
to  the  Curlytops  and  their  pets  before  this 
came  about. 

Teddy  and  Janet  were  so  busy  talking 
about  the  circus  they  were  to  get  up  with 
their  animals  that,  for  a  time,  they  did  not 
watch  Trouble.  That  little  chap  wandered 
back  to  the  barn,  for  he  had  been  much  in- 
terested in  watching  the  alligator  do  his 
trick. 

"Me  make  Slider  slide  some  more,"  said 


114        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

Trouble,  talking  to  himself,  as  he  had  a  habit 
of  doing.  Into  the  barn  he  toddled.  The 
alligator  was  swimming  around  in  his  small 
tank  of  water,  but,  being  a  tame  and  pet  rep- 
tile, he  came  out  when  Trouble  stood  near 
the  cage. 

Unafraid  of  animals,  as  were  Teddy  and 
Janet,  baby  William  picked  Slider  up  and 
put  him  on  the  slanting  board. 

Down  went  the  alligator  as  nicely  as  you 
please ! 

It  was  about  half  an  hour  after  this  that 
Teddy  and  Janet  decided  they  would  try  to 
teach  their  dog  Skyrocket  some  tricks  to  do 
with  Top. 

"Let's  bring  ?em  both  out  here  in  the  yard 
together,"  suggested  Ted.  "You  get  Sky- 
rocket, Jan,  and  I'll  hunt  Top." 

"All  right,"  agreed  his  sister. 

But  before  they  had  gone  far,  looking  for 
the  two  dogs,  they  heard  a  cry  of  alarm  from 
Mrs.  Johnson,  one  of  the  neighbors  across 
the  street. 

"Oh,  my  baby!  My  baby!"  cried  Mrs. 
Johnson,  as  she  ran  down  off  the  porch  to- 
ward a  mosquito-netting  covered  carriage  in 
the  front  yard.  "A  big  snake  is  going  to 


Mrs.  Johnson's  Baby  115 

sting  my  baby!  Oh,  Trouble!  what  shall  I 
do?" 

"Ha!  is  Trouble  over  there *?"  asked  Ted 
of  Janet. 

"Yes,  and  something  else,  too,  I  guess," 
was  the  answer. 

And  Mrs.  Johnson  called  again : 

' '  Oh,  a  big  snake  is  in  the  carriage  with  my 
baby!" 


CHAPTER  X 

MR.  CAPPER'S  BUSTS 

FORGETTING,  in  the  excitement,  all  about 
teaching  Skyrocket  and  Top  to  do  some 
tricks  together,  as  Tip  and  Top  did  before 
Tip  was  lost,  Teddy  and  Janet  ran  across 
the  street  toward  Mrs.  Johnson,  who  was 
standing  beside  the  carriage  in  which  was 
her  baby.  Near  her  was  Trouble,  but  the 
little  fellow  did  not  seem  to  be  as  excited  as 
was  Mrs.  Johnson. 

" Trouble,"  cried  Janet,  as  she  took  hold 
of  her  little  brother's  arm,  "did  you  tease 
Ruth?"  Ruth  was  the  name  of  Mrs.  John- 
son's baby,  and  though  Trouble  was,  usually, 
a  good  little  chap,  he  might  have  done  some- 
thing to  make  a  baby  cry,  Janet  realized. 

"I  didn't  do  nuffinM"  declared  Trouble. 

"Oh,  no,  Trouble  is  all  right!"  said  Mrs. 
Johnson.  "It's  a  big,  black  snake  that  has 
crawled  into  my  baby 's  carriage.  I  put  Ruth 

116 


Mr.  Capper's  Buns 117 

out  here  to  have  her  sleep,  and  I  looked  from 
the  window  every  once  in  a  while  to  see  that 
she  was  all  right. 

"And  she  was,  for  quite  a  while.  But  a 
moment  ago,  when  I  looked,  I  saw  Trouble 
near  the  carriage,  and  then  I  saw  a  big,  ugly 
snake  crawling  over  Ruth's  robe.  Oh,  where 
is  it  ?  Where's  the  snake,  darling ?  Did  the 
snake  bite  you?"  and  Mrs.  Johnson  caught 
Ruth  up  from  the  carriage  in  her  arms. 

"I  never  knew  a  snake  would  crawl  up 
into  a  baby  carriage, ' '  said  Teddy.  ' '  I  don 't 
see  any;  do  you,  Jan?" 

"No,"  answered  his  sister,  "I  don't!" 

' l  There  it  is !  Look ! ' '  cried  Mrs.  Johnson, 
pointing  with  one  hand,  while  she  held  Ruth 
close  to  her  in  her  other  arm.  The  baby  had 
been  rather  rudely  awakened  from  her  sleep, 
and  she  was  just  getting  ready  to  cry.  Her 
lips  were  puckering  up,  and  in  another  mo- 
ment she  would  let  out  a  yell.  Janet  and 
Teddy  knew  this,  for  they  had,  often  enough, 
watched  Trouble  do  the  same  thing  when  he 
was  smaller. 

"There's  the  snake!"  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Johnson,  and,  as  she  spoke  and  pointed,  the 
Curlytops  saw  something  black  crawl  out 


118        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

from  among  the  folds  of  the  robes  in  the 
baby  carriage. 

Ted  had  one  glimpse  of  the  head  of  the 
reptile,  and  then  the  boy  cried : 

"That  isn't  a  snake!  It's  Slider,  our  pet 
alligator !  How  did  he  get  here  ?" 

"A  pet  alligator?"  cried  Mrs.  Johnson. 
"In  my  Ruth's  carriage!  How  did  it  get 
here?" 

1 '  I  bringed  it ! "  said  Trouble,  in  the  silence 
that  followed. 

"You  what?"  cried  Janet. 

"I  bringed  Slider  ober  to  play  wif  Run5!" 
said  Trouble.  "I  play  wif  Slider  in  barn, 
and  den  hims  hoots  get  tired,  so  I  bringed 
him  over  to  ride  in  de  carriage  wif  Ruff." 

"What  does  he  mean?"  asked  Mrs.  John- 
son, crooning  to  "Ruff,"  as  Trouble  called 
the  baby,  and  making  the  little  one  quiet. 
For  William  was  using  some  of  his  "baby 
talk,"  which  he  often  did  when  he  was  ex- 
cited. 

"He  means  that  the  alligator's  feet  got 
tired,  I  suppose,"  translated  Janet.  "He 
says  'hoots'  for  'feet.'  He  must  mean  that 
Slider  got  tired  of  sliding  down  the  board." 

Mrs.  Johnson  looked  from  one  Curlytop 


Mr.  Capper's  Huns 119 

to  the  other,  and  then  at  Trouble.  A  puzzled 
look  was  on  her  face. 

"Really,  children  dear/'  she  said,  "you 
may  know  what  you  are  talking  about,  but  I 
don't.  What  with  hoots,  Slider  and  a  board 
I'm  all  mixed  up!" 

"I  bringed  him — I  bringed  Slider,"  ex- 
plained Trouble. 

"Yes,  we  know  you  did  that,"  said  Teddy. 
"But  you  shouldn't  have,  Trouble.  It  was 
wrong  to  take  our  pet  out  of  the  barn,  and 
it  was  wrong  to  put  Slider  in  the  baby  car- 
riage." 

"Yes,  we  didn't  know  Trouble  was  going 
to  do  anything  like  this,"  said  Janet,  apolo- 
gizing for  her  little  brother 's  misdeed.  "But 
Ted  and  I  were  talking  about  what  tricks 
we'd  get  Skyrocket  and  Top  to  do,  now  that 
Tip  is  gone.  And  we'd  just  got  through 
watching  Snuff  do  a  new  trick  on  top  of  a 
football,  so  we  didn't  watch  Trouble  very 
much." 

"How  many  pets  you  have!"  exclaimed 
Mrs.  Johnson.  "I  suppose  those  are  pets 
you  have  been  talking  about  ?"  she  asked. 

"Ours  and  Uncle  Toby's,"  answered 
Teddy.  "We  have  more  pets  than  we  ever 


120        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

had  before,  and  we're  going  to  give  a  circus. 
Will  you  come,  Mrs.  Johnson  ?" 

"An'  bring  Buff!"  invited  Trouble. 

There  was  a  laugh  at  this. 

"If  you  love  Ruth  you  mustn't  put  Slider 
in  her  carriage  any  more,"  cautioned  Janet, 
as  she  lifted  the  pet  alligator  out  from  among 
the  blankets.  "Little  babies  don't  like  alli- 
gators." 

"All  wite!  I  'ike  'em,"  said  Trouble,  and 
then  he  ran  back  across  the  street. 

"We'll  be  going  now,"  said  Teddy  to  Mrs. 
Johnson.  "We're  sorry  William  made 
trouble." 

"Oh,  he  didn't  mean  to,"  said  Ruth's 
mother.  "He's  a  dear  little  fellow.  I  must 
come  over  and  see  your  pets.  Ruth  loves  a 
pussy  or  a  dog,  but  she  doesn't  know  much 
about  alligators." 

"We  have  a  monkey,  too,"  said  Janet. 

"And  a  parrot  named  Mr.  Nip,"  added 
her  brother. 

"And  white  rats  and  mice!  They're  real 
cute!"  exclaimed  Janet. 

"I  don't  believe  I  would  like  the  mice!" 
said  Mrs.  Johnson. 

"But  ours  are  white,"  Janet  explained. 


Mr.  Capper's  Buns  121 

"That  makes  a  big  difference.  They're  as 
nice  as  rabbits!" 

"They  wouldn't  be  for  me,"  said  Ruth's 
mother,  with  a  laugh.  "Good-bye,  Curly- 
tops!  Come  over  again,  and  bring  a  pussy 
or  doggie  with  you." 

Ted  and  Janet  promised  they  would,  and 
then  they  hurried  back  across  the  street  after 
Trouble.  They  wanted  to  make  sure  he 
would  not  get  into  any  more  mischief  with 
the  pets. 

Daddy  Martin  was  told,  that  evening  after 
supper,  all  that  had  happened  during  the 
day,  from  the  discovery  that  Slider  and 
Snuff  could  do  tricks,  to  the  finding  of  the 
pet  alligator  in  baby  Ruth's  carriage. 

"Well,  it  seems  you  had  lots  of  excite- 
ment to-day,"  he  said  to  his  wife. 

"Just  a  little,"  she  agreed. 

"But  if  Uncle  Toby's  pets  are  to  make 
trouble  I  don't  know  that  we  can  keep 
them,"  Daddy  Martin  said. 

Teddy  and  Janet  looked  at  each  other. 

"Oh,  we  can't  let  them  go  now!"  exclaimed 
Teddy. 

"We're  just  getting  to  love  them!"  his 
sister  added. 

"And  we  haven't  found  out  any  tricks  yet 


122        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

that  the  white  mice  can  do,7'  Teddy  went  on. 
"We  haven't  even  named  'em!" 

"Well,  I  suppose  if  the  neighbors  don't 
complain  I  shouldn't,"  admitted  Mr.  Mar- 
tin. "But  with  the  monkey  scaring  Mrs. 
Blake,  and  the  alligator  scaring  Mrs.  John- 


son  " 


"They  weren't  very  much  scared,"  inter- 
rupted Ted.  "Please  let  us  keep  Uncle 
Toby's  pets !  We  want  to  give  a  circus." 

"We'll  see,"  said  Mr.  Martin.  "I  hope 
nothing  more  will  happen,  though,  to  annoy 
the  neighbors." 

"We'll  watch  our  pets  so  they  won't  get 
out,"  promised  Ted  and  Janet. 

The  next  few  days  were  spent  by  the  Cur- 
lytops  in  getting  better  acquainted  with  the 
animals  that  had  been  brought  from  Uncle 
Toby's.  They  liked  their  new  pets  more  and 
more  the  more  they  saw  of  them.  Of  course 
they  wished  they  could  get  Tip  back,  but 
that  trick  dog  seemed  to  have  vanished. 

Daddy  Martin  put  an  advertisement  in 
the  paper,  and  offered  a  reward  to  whoever 
would  bring  Tip  back,  but  there  were  no  an- 
swers— at  least  none  that  amounted  to  any- 
thing. It  is  true  that  several  men  and  boys 
came  with  strange  dogs  they  thought  an- 


Mr.  Capper's  Buns 123 

swered  the  description  of  the  missing  Tip, 
but  none  of  the  animals  was  the  pet  so  much 
wanted. 

Nor  was  anything  heard  of  the  missing 
youth  "  Shorty. "  He  seemed  to  have  dis- 
appeared with  the  poodle,  and  the  police  said 
they  believed  Shorty  knew  where  Tip  was, 
and  had,  perhaps,  taken  him  away  in  order 
to  sell  him. 

''Well,  of  course  we  have  enough  animals 
without  Tip  to  give  a  show,"  said  Teddy. 
"But  I'd  love  to  get  Tip  back.  And  I  guess 
Top  is  lonesome  without  him." 

"I  guess  so,  too,"  added  Janet. 

But  if  Top  was  lonesome  he  showed  no 
signs  of  it  after  one  or  two  days.  He  made 
friends  with  Skyrocket,  as  Snuff  did  with 
Turnover,  and  the  dogs  and  cats  lived  hap- 
pily together. 

But  alas  for  the  hopes  of  Mr.  Martin  that 
his  neighbors  would  not  again  be  troubled 
by  the  pets  of  the  Curlytops.  It  was  about 
a  week  after  the  animals  had  been  brought 
from  Uncle  Toby's  house  that,  as  Mr.  Martin 
was  coming  home  from  the  store  rather  early 
one  afternoon,  he  saw  a  crowd  in  front  of 
the  bakeshop  of  Mr.  Capper,  just  around  the 
corner  from  the  home  of  the  Curlytops. 


124        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"I  hope  that  isn't  a  fire  in  Mr.  Capper's 
bakery,"  thought  Daddy  Martin,  for  more, 
than  once  hot  grease  had  boiled  over  in  the 
bakeshop  and  caused  slight  fires. 

As  Mr.  Martin  approached  Mr.  Capper's 
store  he  heard  loud  laughter  from  the  crowd 
of  men  and  boys  in  front  of  the  show  win- 
dow. 

"It  can't  be  a  fire,  or  they  wouldn't 
laugh, ' '  said  the  father  of  the  Curlytops.  ' 1 1 
wonder  what  it  is?" 

He  hastened  on,  and  as  he  came  within 
view  of  the  bakery  window  he  uttered  an  ex- 
clamation of  surprise.  For  there,  among  the 
buns,  eating  them  and  playing  among  the 
other  cakes,  were  several  large  white  rats 
and  mice. 

"Look  at  that  one  big  one  stand  up  on  his 
hind  legs  and  nibble  a  bun  just  like  a  squir- 
rel!" said  a  man  watching  the  antics  of  the 
white  rats  and  mice  among  Mr.  Capper's 
buns.  If  this  man  had  only  known  it,  squir- 
rels and  rats  belong  to  the  same  family,  that 
called  "rodents,"  only  a  squirrel  has  a  much 
larger  tail  than  a  rat  or  a  mouse. 

"I  wonder  what  in  the  world  Mr.  Capper 
lets  those  white  rats  stay  in  his  bakeshop 
window  for?"  thought  Mr.  Martin,  as  he 


Mr.  Capper's  Buns  125 

ran  up.  "They  are  not  harmful,  of  course, 
but  people  will  not  like  to  eat  bakery  stuff 
after  rats  and  mice,  even  if  they  are  white,, 
have  run  around  them.  It's  a  poor  adver- 
tisement." 

At  that  moment  the  baker  himself,  who 
had  been  out  in  his  oven-room,  came  running 
into  the  shop.  He  gave  one  look  at  his  win- 
dow, saw  the  white  rats  and  mice  playing 
around  in  and  nibbling  his  choice  buns,  and 
then  the  baker  cried : 

i  l  Oh,  who  did  this  ?  Who  played  this  trick 
on  me  and  spoiled  my  buns  ?  Who  let  those 
mice  in  there?" 

" Didn't  you  do  it  yourself?"  asked  Mr. 
Martin,  who  knew  the  baker  very  well,  hav- 
ing traded  with  him  for  a  number  of  years. 

'  *  Let  those  mice  in  my  window  ?  Never ! ' y 
cried  Mr.  Capper.  "Why  should  I  do  a 
thing  like  that?" 

"I  thought  maybe  it  was  for  an  advertise- 
ment— to  attract  customers  to  your  store," 
said  Mr.  Martin.  "Though  I  thought  it  was 
rather  funny." 

"It  is  too  funny!"  cried  the  baker.  "All 
my  buns  are  spoiled,  and  I  just  baked  them. 
As  for  customers — I  have  a  crowd,  yes,  but 
they  will  not  buy  what  the  mice  have  nibbled- 


126        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

4  *  Whose  mice  are  they?  Whose  white 
rats  are  they?  I  ask  you  that!"  cried  the 
baker,  who  was  much  excited.  "A  little 
while  ago  two  boys  came  in  to  buy  cookies. 
I  wait  on  them,  and  I  go  back  to  my  oven. 
Then  the  next  I  know  I  see  a  crowd  and  I 
come  out  to  find — these!" 

He  pointed  to  the  white  rats  and  mice 
that  were  having  a  fine  time  among  the  buns 
in  the  bakeshop  window. 

"You  say  two  boys  were  here  a  little  while 
ago?"  asked  Mr.  Martin,  and  he  began  to 
have  a  suspicion  of  what  had  happened. 

"Two  boys,"  replied  the  baker.  "They 
have  a  box  with  them — Ha!  here  is  the  box 
now.  It  is  the  cage  that  the  mice  got  out 
of !"  he  cried,  pointing  to  a  box  with  a  wire 
front  on  the  floor  of  the  store,  in  a  corner. 

"Uncle  Toby's  box!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Mar- 
tin, in  a  low  voice. 

"What's  that?"  cried  the  baker.  "You 
know  these  white  rats  and  mice,  Mr.  Mar- 
tin?" 

"I'm  afraid  I  do,"  said  the  father  of  the 
Curlytops.  1 1  My  children  got  some  new  pets 
from  an  uncle  of  mine — Uncle  Toby.  Among 
the  pets  were  white  mice  and  rats.  That  is 


Mr.  Capper's  Buns  127 


the  box  we  brought  them  in  from  Pocono. 
But  how  did  the  box  get  here  ?" 

"Some  boys  brought  it  in,  I  am  telling 
you, ' '  the  baker  answered.  ' '  Two  boys. ' ' 

"Did  you  know  them?  Was  one  my  son 
Teddy?"  asked  Mr.  Martin. 

"I  do  not  know — I  forgot  to  look  I  was 
in  such  a  hurry,  for  my  bread  was  almost 
burning  in  my  oven.  I  run  to  the  store 
quick,  as  I  am  all  alone  now;  I  wait  on  the 
boys,  they  want  cookies ;  and  I  run  back  to 
my  oven.  Now  I  come — the  rats — the  mice ! ' J 
and  Mr.  Capper,  who  was  a  Frenchman, 
raised  his  hands  in  the  air  over  his  head  in 
despair. 

"I  wonder  if  Ted  could  have  done  this?" 
mused  Mr.  Martin. 

And  then  he  heard  Teddy's  voice  calling: 

'  *  Come  on,  Jim !  Here  they  are !  We  left 
the  rats  here,  and — Oh,  I  say !  Look !  They 
got  out  of  the  cage,  and  look  what  they're 
doing  to  the  buns!" 

A  moment  later  Teddy  Martin  came  push- 
ing his  way  through  the  crowd  now  in  the 
bakery. 


CHAPTER  XI 

TOP  ACTS  STRANGELY 

MR.  MARTIN",  the  father  of  the  Curlytops, 
Mr.  Capper,  the  baker,  and  the  crowd  of 
persons  in  the  shop  looked  at  Teddy  and  his 
friend,  Jimmy  Norton,  as  the  two  boys  hur- 
ried into  the  place.  Nearly  everyone  guessed 
what  had  happened,  but  Mr.  Martin  wanted 
to  make  sure,  so  he  asked: 

"  Teddy,  did  you  let  your  white  mice  and 
rats  get  loose  among  Mr.  Capper's  buns?" 

"Well,  I— I  didn't  exactly  do  it,  Daddy," 
Teddy  answered.  "But  I  guess  they  did  get 
loose,  didn't  they?"  he  asked,  with  half  a 
smile. 

"There  is  no  doubt  about  it — they  are 
loose,  and  they  have  done  a  lot  of  damage," 
and  Mr.  Martin  spoke  rather  sternly. 

"Damage!  They  have  eaten  up  over  two 
dollars'  worth  of  buns — or  they  have  as  much 
spoiled!"  said  the  excited  baker. 

128 


Top  Acts  Strangely  129 

"How  did  it  happen?"  asked  Teddy's 
father. 

"Well,  it  was  an  accident,"  the  little  Cur- 
lytop  boy  answered.  "Jimmy  and  I  were 
taking  the  cage  down  to  the  store  to  have 
some  new  wire  put  on.  There's  a  place 
where  the  wire  is  broken,  and  it  needed  fix- 
ing so  the  rats  couldn't  get  out.  So  Jimmy 
and  I  took  the  cage,  and  the  rats  and  mice  in 
it,  down  to  the  hardware  store." 

"Why  didn't  you  take  the  mice  out,  and 
leave  them  in  the  barn?"  asked  Mr.  Martin. 

"  'Cause  there  wasn't  anything  I  could 
leave  'em  in, ' '  Teddy  replied.  1 1 1  was  afraid 
they'd  get  out,  and  maybe  go  over  in  Mrs. 
Johnson's  baby  carriage,  just  as  Slider  did. 
So  I  thought  if  we  took  the  rats  and  mice 
right  in  the  cage  the  man  at  the  store  could 
put  some  new  wire  netting  over  the  old,  and 
they  couldn't  get  out." 

"And  did  he  do  it?"  Teddy's  father  went 
on,  while  the  crowd  listened  to  the  talk. 

1 1  Yes,  sir, ' '  Teddy  replied.  1 1  The  cage  was 
fixed  all  right,  and  on  the  way  back,  Jimmy 
and  I  got  tired  of  carrying  it,  so  we  stopped 
in  here  to  get  some  cookies.  We  were  him- 

gry." 

"It  is  as  I  told  you!"  broke  in  Mr.  Cap- 


130        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets     

per.  "Two  boys  did  come  in  for  cookies. 
These  are  the  two — I  remember  now." 

"Well,  why  didn't  you  boys  take  the  cage 
of  rats  and  mice  with  you  when  you  went 
out?"  asked  Mr.  Martin.  "If  you  hadn't 
left  them  here  they  wouldn't  have  gotten 
loose  and  gone  into  Mr.  Capper's  show  win- 
dow to  eat  or  spoil  all  his  buns.  Why  did 
you  leave  the  cage  here?" 

"We — we  forgot  it,  I  guess;  didn't  we, 
Jimmy?"  asked  Teddy  of  his  chum. 

"Yes,"  agreed  Jimmy,  "we  did." 

"But  if  the  man  at  the  hardware  store  put 
new  wire  on  the  cage,  I  don't  see  how  the 
rats  and  mice  got  out,"  Mr.  Martin  went  on. 

Teddy  looked  at  the  empty  cage  which  had 
been  set  down  in  a  corner  when  he  and  his 
chum  bought  the  cookies. 

"The  door  came  open!"  Teddy  exclaimed. 
"See,  Daddy,  the  door  sprang  open  and  the 
white  mice  got  out  that  way.  It  wasn't  our 
fault  at  all!" 

"But  it  was  your  fault  for  leaving  the 
cage  here,"  went  on  Mr.  Martin.  "I  don't 
see  why  you  did  it." 

"I  guess  it  was  on  account  of  the  fire  en- 
gine," spoke  up  Jimmy  Norton. 

"The  fire  engine!"  cried  Teddy's  father. 


Top  Acts  Strangely  131 

"What  has  the  fire  engine  to  do  with  white 
mice  eating  buns?" 

"Well,  after  we'd  bought  the  cookies,  and 
were  going  to  take  up  the  cage  of  mice  and 
go  out,"  Jimmy  explained,  "the  fire  engine 
came  past,  and  Ted  and  I  ran  out  to  see  it 
and  we  went  to  the  fire,  but  it  wasn't  a  big 
one,  and  we  forgot  about  the  mice;  didn't 
we,  Teddy  I" 

"Yes,"  said  Teddy,  "we  did.  And  I 
didn't  think  about  'em  until  a  little  while 
ago,  'cause  we  started  to  play  marbles,  and — 
and " 

"Yes,  and  by  your  thoughtlessness  you 
have  made  a  lot  of  trouble,"  Mr.  Martin 
remarked.  "I  am  sorry  for  this,  Teddy.  If 
many  more  things  happen  I  shall  have  to  get 
rid  of  Uncle  Toby's  pets." 

"Oh,  don't  do  that!"  begged  the  little 
Curlytop  boy.  "I'll  put  the  rats  and  mice 
back  in  the  cage  and  I'll  fasten  the  door  so 
they  can't  get  out  again.  Don't  send  Uncle 
Toby's  animals  away,  Daddy!  We  want  to 
have  a  circus  with  them!" 

"And  I'll  help  pay  for  the  buns  the  rats 
ate,"  added  Jimmy.  "It  was  partly  my 
fault  for  making  Ted  forget." 

"Oh,  no,  I  can't  allow  that,"  said  Mr. 


132        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

Martin,  "  though  it  is  very  good  of  you  to 
offer,  Jimmy.  I  will  pay  Mr.  Capper  for 
the  buns  the  rats  ate,  and  after  this  Teddy 
must  be  more  careful." 

"Can  we  take  away  the  buns  and  cookies 
the  mice  didn't  eat?"  asked  the  little  Curly- 
top  chap,  as  he  and  his  chum  began  picking 
up  the  pets  and  putting  them  back  in  the 
cage.  The  animals  were  tame  and  did  not 
mind  being  handled. 

"Take  away  all  the  buns  in  the  window! 
They  are  of  no  more  use  to  me!"  exclaimed 
the  baker.  "But,  Mr.  Martin,  I  will  not 
charge  you  full  price  for  the  things — only 
what  it  cost  to  make  them.  For,  as  you  say, 
it  was  an  advertisement.  And  I  know  the 
boys  did  not  mean  it." 

"Indeed  we  didn't!"  cried  Teddy.  "We 
can  take  the  broken  buns  and  feed  them  to 
Skyrocket  and  Top,  and  Mr.  Mp  and  Jack 
will  eat  them,  too,"  he  said  to  his  father. 
"It  will  be  just  as  good  as  buying  stale  bread 
for  the  monkey  and  the  parrot,  Daddy.  I 
guess  they'll  like  buns  better." 

"I  shouldn't  be  surprised  if  they  did," 
laughed  Mr.  Martin.  "Well,  as  you  say, 
Teddy,  it  will  save  buying  stale  bread." 
Some  of  the  pets  were  fed  on  this,  and  now 


Top  Acts  Strangely  133 

the  broken  buns  would  take  its  place  for  a 
few  meals. 

By  this  time  the  crowd  began  leaving  the 
bakery,  as  the  excitement  was  over.  Teddy 
and  Jimmy  picked  up  the  last  of  the  rats  and 
mice,  putting  them  back  in  the  mended  cage. 

"And  make  sure  the  door  of  the  cage  is 
fastened,"  Mr.  Martin  said  to  Teddy,  as  the 
baker  was  paid  for  the  buns.  "We  don't 
want  the  creatures  getting  loose  again." 

"It's  good  and  tight,"  Teddy  said.  "They 
won't  get  out  again  except  when  we  take 
them  out  to  do  circus  tricks." 

Carrying  the  cage  of  white  mice  and  rats 
between  them,  Teddy  and  Jimmy  walked 
down  the  street  in  front  of  Mr.  Martin,  and 
soon  the  pets  were  safely  back  in  the  barn. 

"I'm  a  crack-crack-cracker!"  cried  the 
green,  red  and  yellow  parrot,  as  the  boys 
entered.  The  talkative  bird  whistled,  at 
which  sound  Skyrocket  and  Top,  who  were 
asleep  in  one  corner  of  the  barn,  awakened 
and  began  to  bark  loudly. 

"Your  parrot  whistles  just  like  one  of  us 
fellows,"  said  Jimmy  to  Teddy. 

"Yes,  he  does,"  admitted  the  Curlytop 
chap.  "I  have  been  trying  to  think  what 
tricks  we  could  make  him  do  in  the  circus. 


134        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

But  the  trouble  is  he  doesn't  always  talk  or 
whistle  when  you  want  him  to.  And  when 
you  don't  want  him  to  he  nearly  always  does 
it." 

"Well,  anyway,  he'll  be  nice  to  look  at  in 
the  pet  circus,"  said  Jimmy.  "And  in  the 
regular  circus  they  have  animals  and  birds 
to  look  at,  as  well  as  the  kind  that  do  tricks." 

"Yes,"  agreed  Teddy,  "I  guess  so." 

"I'm  a  crack-crack-cracker!"  shrieked 
the  parrot  again,  pulling  himself  up  to  the 
top  of  his  cage  by  means  of  his  big  beak,  his 
black  tongue  licking  the  bars  as  if  he  liked 
them. 

"Well,  if  you're  a  crack-crack-cracker, 
here's  a  buri-bun-bunner  for  you,"  laughed 
Teddy,  and  out  of  the  bag  Mr.  Martin  had 
carried  from  the  bakeshop  Teddy  took  sev- 
eral of  the  broken  pieces  and  fed  them  to 
the  parrot. 

Seeing  this,  Jack,  the  monkey,  who  was  in 
his  cage,  set  up  a  chattering  such  as  he  must 
have  learned  in  the  jungle  where  he  came 
from. 

"What's  the  matter  with  him?"  Jimmy 
wanted  to  know. 

"I  guess  he  wants  some  of  the  broken  buns, 
too, ' '  said'Teddy.  ' '  Here,  you  give  the  mon- 


Top  Acts  Strangely  135 

key  some,  and  I'll  feed  Skyrocket  and  Top. 
They  want  some,  too." 

Soon  such  of  Uncle  Toby's  pets  as  liked 
this  form  of  food  were  having  all  the  buns 
they  wanted.  Mr.  Nip,  the  parrot,  tore  his 
pieces  of  the  buns  apart  to  get  at  the  cur- 
rants. But  Jack,  Top  and  Skyrocket  ate 
theirs  down,  currants  and  all,  as  if  they  liked 
every  crumb. 

The  white  rats  and  mice  were  not  given 
any  of  the  broken  buns,  as  it  was  thought 
they  had  had  enough  in  the  bakery,  and 
Teddy  knew  it  was  not  wise  to  overfeed  any 
pet  animals.. 

Cats,  dogs  and  other  pets  should  not  be 
fed  too  much,  though  of  course  they  should 
not  be  allowed  to  go  hungry  very  long.  When 
animals  can  run  around  as  they  please,  or 
when  they  live  wild  in  the  jungle  or  forest, 
they  never  eat  too  much.  They  know  when 
to  stop.  But  often  persons,  wishing  to  be 
kind,  will  give  their  dogs  and  cats  too  much 
meat,  or  other  rich  food.  And  as  these  pets 
do  not  run  around  and  exercise  very  much, 
they  cannot  digest  all  they  eat,  so  they  often 
become  ill.  Teddy  did  not  want  this  to  hap- 
pen to  any  of  his  pets. 

Another  thing  he  was  careful  about  was 


136        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

always  to  see  that  they  had  plenty  of  fresh 
water.  Nothing  is  more  important  than  this. 
It  is  cruel  to  have  any  pet  suffer  for  water 
to  drink,  especially  in  summer.  So  if  you 
keep  pets  of  any  kind,  don't  feed  them  too 
much,  but  give  them  plenty  of  water.  They 
never  can  take  too  much  of  this. 

"When  you  going  to  have  your  circus?" 
asked  Jimmy  of  Teddy,  when  the  animals 
had  quieted  down,  eating  the  pieces  of  buns. 

"Oh,  pretty  soon,  I  guess.  Janet  and  I 
are  going  to  teach  them  a  lot  of  new  tricks. ' ' 

"I  wish  I  could  help,"  said  Jimmy. 

1 '  You  can, ' '  Teddy  promised.  l '  Jan  and  I 
will  need  someone  to  help  us  with  the  circus. 
I'm  going  to  ask  Jack  Turton  and  Harry 
Kent,  too.  Jack  is  so  funny  and  fat  he'll 
make  a  good  clown." 

"I'd  rather  be  one  of  the  animal  trainers, " 
said  Jimmy. 

"That's  what  you  and  I'll  be — animal 
trainers, ' '  decided  Teddy.  ' '  My  sister  Jan 's 
good  with  animals,  too.  She  isn't  afraid  of 
even  a  snake." 

1  i  That 's  good, ' '  decided  Jimmy.  ' l  Maybe 
we  could  get  some  snakes  to  have  in  the  cir- 
cus— little  ones,  you  know." 


Top  Acts  Strangely  137 

"It  would  be  fine!"  exclaimed  Teddy. 
"But  where  can  we  get  any?" 

"Oh,  in  the  woods,  I  guess.  I'll  see  if  I 
can  find  any.  But  I  Ve  got  to  go  home  now. ' ' 

"All  right.  Come  over  to-morrow  and 
we'll  start  training  the  animals,"  replied 
Teddy. 

And  the  next  day  Teddy,  Janet  and  Jimmy 
began  to  teach  the  pets  some  new  tricks.  I 
will  tell  you  about  them  when  the  time  comes. 
It  was  not  easy  work,  and  more  than  once 
the  Curlytops  and  their  friend  were  dis- 
couraged. For  just  when  they  thought  they 
had  Top  and  Skyrocket  so  they  would  do  a 
trick  together,  one  or  the  other  of  the  dogs 
would  run  away,  wagging  his  tail,  however, 
in  friendly  fashion,  .to  show  there  were  no 
hard  feelings. 

The  cats  were  the  hardest  to  teach.  Snuff 
did  very  well  with  his  ball  rolling  trick  and 
one  or  two  others,  and  Turnover  would  turn 
in  a  sort  of  side-somersault  whenever  told 
to  do  so  by  Janet.  But  to  teach  the  two  cats 
to  do  tricks  together  was  much  harder. 

It  was  this — the  tricks  they  could  do  to- 
gether—that made  Tip  and  Top  such  a  valu- 
able team  of  dogs. 

"Do  you  think  you'll  ever  get  Tip  back?" 


138        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

asked  Jimmy,  as  he,  with  the  Curlytops,  was 
resting  one  day  after  putting  the  pets 
through  some  of  their  tricks. 

"We  keep  hoping  so,"  said  Janet. 

"But  it  doesn't  look  so  now,"  added  her 
brother.  "He's  been  gone  so  long,  and  not 
even  the  police  can  find  him.  They  can't 
find  Shorty,  either.  I  guess  Shorty  and  Tip 
ran  away  together." 

"And  maybe  Shorty  has  Tip  in  a  circus, 
making  him  do  tricks,"  added  Janet. 

"Maybe,"  agreed  Teddy.  "But  now 
we've  got  to  think  where  we're  going  to  get 
a  tent  for  our  show.  If  we  give  a  pet  animal 
circus  we've  got  to  have  a  tent." 

' '  S  ur e ! ' '  agreed  Jimmy.  ' l  It  wouldn  't  be 
a  circus  without  a  tent.  But  maybe  my 
father  can  get  us  one.  He  used  to  be  in  the 
army." 

"Oh,  let's  go  ask  him!"  cried  Janet.  "We 
can  leave  our  pets  here  in  the  barn  now,  for 
they've  been  fed  and  watered." 

Off  the  children  hurried  to  Jimmy's  house. 
His  father  was  not  at  home,  but  Mrs.  Norton 
said  she  thought  her  husband  could  get  a 
tent  that  would  do  for  the  circus. 

"And  since  you  have  been  feeding  the  ani- 
mals, wouldn't  you  like  to  feed  yourselves 


Top  Acts  Strangely  139 

now?"  asked  Jimmy's  mother,  with  a  smile 
at  the  Curlytops  and  her  own  son. 

"Feed  ourselves — how?"  asked  Teddy. 
At  the  same  time  he  noticed  a  most  delicious 
smell  coming  from  Mrs.  Norton's  kitchen. 

"I  have  just  baked  some  molasses 
cookies,"  went  on  Jimmy's  mother,  "and  I 
have  some  lovely,  cool  milk.  Would  you  like 
some  glasses  of  milk  and  molasses  cookies?" 

"Sure!"  exclaimed  Teddy. 

"Fine!"  cried  Jimmy. 

"We'd  like  it  very  much,  if  you  please," 
said  Janet,  and  she  was  extra  polite,  to  make 
up  for  the  rather  boisterous  manner  in  which 
Teddy  spoke.  But  the  boys  meant  to  be  po- 
lite and,  after  all,  that  is  what  counts. 

Soon  the  Curlytops  and  their  friend  were 
out  on  the  side  porch,  drinking  the  cool,  rich 
milk  and  eating  the  fresh  molasses  cookies. 
It  was  while  they  were  thus  sitting,  talking 
about  the  circus  they  were  going  to  give,  that 
into  the  yard  came  running  Top,  Uncle 
Toby's  trick  dog. 

"Hello,  Top !"  called  Teddy.  "Were  you 
looking  for  us?" 

Top  barked  and  wagged  his  tail.  Then  he 
acted  in  a  strange  manner.  He  ran  up  to 
Teddy,  and  caught  hold  of  the  boy's  coat. 


140        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

"Oh,  he's  trying  to  bite  you!"  exclaimed 
Janet. 

"He  is  not!  Top  would  never  bite  me!" 
declared  Teddy.  But  he  wondered  what  the 
dog  was  trying  to  do. 

Then  Top  let  go  his  hold  of  the  coat,  and 
ran  a  little  way  toward  the  gate.  There  he 
stopped  and  looked  back  toward  the  chil- 
dren. 

"What  makes  him  act  that  funny  way?" 
asked  Jimmy. 

"I  don't  know,"  answered  Teddy. 

With  another  bark,  and  wagging  his  tail, 
Top  again  ran  up  to  Teddy  and  pulled  on 
his  coat. 

"I  know  what  it  is !"  exclaimed  the  Curly- 
top  boy.  "Something  has  happened,  and 
Top  has  come  to  tell  us  and  get  us  to  go 
with  him!  Come  on,  Jimmy !  Come  on, 
Jan!" 


CHAPTER  XII 

MR.   NIP'S  ALARM 

TOGETHER  the  two  Curlytops  and  their 
friend  Jimmy  Norton  ran  out  of  Jimmy's 
yard  and  down  the  street,  following  Top,  the 
trick  dog.  For  as  soon  as  Top  had  seen  that 
Teddy  was  following  after  him,  which,  evi- 
dently, was  just  what  Top  wanted,  the  dog 
raced  on,  barking  wildly. 

"Do  you  think  he  came  to  call  you?" 
panted  Janet,  as  she  ran  beside  her  brother. 

"Sure  he  did,"  Ted  answered.  "Didn't 
you  ever  read  in  books  how  dogs  do  that 
when  they  want  you  to  come  to  help  some- 
body who's  in  trouble — like  somebody  in  the 
water?" 

"I've  read  lots  of  stories  like  that,"  said 
Jimmy. 

"Oh,  maybe  something  has  happened  to 
Trouble!"  cried  Janet. 

141 


142        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"Mother  took  Trouble  down  town  with 
her,"  Teddy  answered.  "So  if  Trouble  is 
in  trouble  Top  wouldn't  know  it." 

"Maybe  our  house  is  on  fire,"  went  on 
Janet,  who  seemed  quite  determined  to  have 
something  dreadful  happen. 

"You'd  hear  the  alarm  bell  and  see  the 
engines  if  there  was  a  fire,"  declared  Jimmy. 

"Well,  it's  something!"  exclaimed  Janet. 
"Isn't  it  a  pity  dogs  can't  talk,  like  parrots  ? 
If  they  could,  Top  could  tell  us  just  what 
the  matter  was." 

"We'll  see  pretty  soon,"  said  her  brother. 
"We're  almost  at  our  house,  and  it  must  be 
there  that  something  is  the  matter." 

As  the  children  were  racing  down  the 
street,  with  Top  running  in  front  of  them, 
looking  back  every  now  and  then  to  make 
sure  the  Curlytops  and  Jimmy  were  follow- 
ing, a  man  stopped  the  children  and  said : 

"Why  are  you  chasing  that  poor  dog? 
Don't  you  know  it  is  wrong  to  tease  and  an- 
noy animals?" 

"We're  not  teasing  him,"  Teddy  an- 
swered. "He's  our  dog,  anyhow." 

"That  is  no  matter,"  the  fussy  man  said. 
"I  think  it  is  wrong  to  chase  dogs  or  to  tie 
tin  cans  on  their  tails." 


Mr.  Nip's  Alarm  143 

"As  if  we'd  tie  a  tin  can  to  the  tail  of  our 
nice  Top!"  exclaimed  Janet.  "We  never 
tie  cans  to  dogs'  tails!"  she  added.  "And 
we're  running  after  Top  because  he  wants  us 
to.  He  came  to  get  us  because  something 
has  happened  at  our  house." 

Seeing  that  the  children  had  stopped,  be- 
cause the  strange  man  had  halted  them,  Top 
came  running  back,  barking  and  wagging 
his  tail.  He  caught  hold  of  Teddy's  coat, 
and  again  pulled  it. 

"See!"  exclaimed  Ted.  "He  wants  us  to 
follow  him.  He  did  that  before,  and  that's 
why  we  ran  after  him,  not  because  we're 
chasing  him,  Mister." 

The  man  looked  at  the  excited  dog  and  at 
the  kind-faced  children.  He  must  have 
known  they  would  never  have  harmed  ani- 
mals, for  he  said : 

"Oh,  excuse  me!  I  guess  I  made  a  mis- 
take. I  thought  you  were  chasing  the  poor 
dog.  Excuse  me!" 

The  strange  man  turned  and  hurried  on5 
down  the  street,  and  after  looking  toward 
him  for  a  few  seconds  the  Curlytops  and 
their  chum  again  hastened  along,  following 
Top,  who  grew  more  excited  all  the  while. 

Into  the  yard  of  the  Martin  house  dashed 


144        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

Top,  closely  followed  by  the  children.  But 
the  dog  did  not  stop  at  the  house,  nor  did  he 
run  toward  the  barn  where  the  other  pets 
were  kept.  When  Ted,  Janet  and  Jimmy 
went  over  to  Jimmy's  house  they  had  left  the 
two  dogs  and  the  two  cats  playing  outside 
the  barn.  Now  there  was  no  sight  of  Snuff 
and  Turnover,  nor  of  Skyrocket,  the  other 
dog. 

Down  past  the  barn  and  toward  the  brook 
into  which  Trouble  had  more  than  once  fall- 
en, ran  Top,  the  trick  dog. 

"Oh,  Trouble  must  have  come  back  and 
have  fallen  in!"  cried  Janet. 

"I  don't  believe  so,"  said  her  brother. 
"If  Trouble  was  in  the  water  you'd  hear 
him  howling." 

"Unless  his  head  was  under,"  suggested 
Jimmy. 

"Yes,  unless  his  head  was  under,"  agreed 
Teddy.  "But  I  don't  believe  it's  Trouble. 
If  it  was  anything  like  that,  Top  wouldn't 
come  all  the  way  to  your  house  after  us, 
Jimmy.  He'd  have  barked  and  have  gotten 
someone  around  here  to  come  to  the  rescue." 

"There  isn't  anybody  home  at  our  house 
but  us,  and  we  weren't  home,"  explained 


Mr.  Nip's  Alarm  145 

Janet.  "Mother  and  Trouble  are  down 
town,  and  Susan,  our  new  girl,  has  gone 
out." 

"I  guess  that's  why  Top  came  to  us," 
Teddy  said.  "But  where  is  he  going,  any- 
how, and  what  is  the  matter?" 

Barking  and  still  wagging  his  tail,  to  show 
how  glad  he  was  that  the  children  were  com- 
ing where  he  wanted  them,  Top  led  the  way 
down  along  the  brook.  The  Curlytops 
passed  the  place  where  they  had  played  ships 
the  day  Trouble  was  sent  afloat  in  the  box — 
the  day  Uncle  Toby's  letter  came,  telling 
about  the  pets  he  was  leaving. 

"What  is  it,  Top  ?  What's  the  matter,  old 
fellow?"  asked  Teddy. 

A  bark  was  the  dog's  answer.  But  a  mo- 
ment later,  as  the  children  turned  a  bend  in 
the  stream,  they  heard  a  howl  coming  from 
a  bunch  of  tall  cat-tail  plants  growing  on 
the  edge  of  a  swamp  not  far  from  the  brook. 
It  was  the  mournful  howl  of  a  dog  in  pain. 

"That's  Skyrocket!"  cried  Teddy. 

"And  he's  in  trouble!"  added  Janet. 

"And  that's  why  Top  came  to  get  us," 
declared  Jimmy. 

Top  was  barking  louder  than  ever  now, 
and  as  the  Curlytops  and  their  friend  hur- 


14(3        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

ried  along  they  could  hear,  more  plainly,  the 
howls  of  the  dog-  they  felt  sure  was  their 
own,  dear  Skyrocket. 

And  a  moment  later,  as  they  parted  the 
green  spears  of  the  cat-tails,  they  saw,  lying 
on  the  ground  in  the  mud  and  water,  poor 
Skyrocket.  Their  pet  looked  up  at  them 
and  howled  mournfully. 

"Oh,  he's  drowning !"  cried  Janet,  as  she 
saw  that  Skyrocket  was  partly  covered  by 
the  water  of  the  swamp. 

"He's  got  a  broken  leg!"  said  Jimmy. 

"Dogs  can  go  on  three  legs,  if  one  is  brok- 
en, though  they  can't  go  very  fast,"  said 
Teddy.  "Skyrocket  is  caught  fast,  that's 
what's  the  matter." 

Top  seemed  overjoyed  that  he  had  brought 
help  to  his  dog  friend.  Close  up  beside  Sky- 
rocket Top  crawled,  whining  in  sympathy, 
and  then  Top  began  licking,  with  his  red 
tongue,  one  of  Skyrocket's  legs. 

"Oh,  I  see  what  the  matter  is!"  cried 
Teddy.  "Skyrocket's  leg  is  caught  in  a  trap ! 
That 's  why  he  couldn  't  get  loose !  Look ! " 

Teddy  pointed  to  where,  half  hidden  in 
the  mud,  water,  and  grass,  was  a  spring  trap. 
It  was  fast  to  a  chain,  and  the  chain  was 
attached  to  a  wooden  stake,  driven  into  the 


Mr.  Nip's  Alarm 147 

ground.  But,  worst  of  all,  the  steel  jaws  of 
the  trap  had  snapped  shut  on  the  lower  part 
of  Skyrocket's  left  hind  leg.  The  poor  dog 
tried  to  stand  up,  but  could  not,  as  whenever 
he  attempted  to  move  the  chain  held  him 
back. 

"Poor  Skyrocket!"  murmured  Janet,  al- 
most ready  to  cry. 

"Ill  get  him  loose!"  said  Teddy. 

"It's  a  good  thing  Top  came  and  told  us 
what  the  matter  was,  or  maybe  we'd  never 
have  known  it,"  remarked  Jimmy. 

"Come  on,  Jim!  Help  me  open  the  trap 
and  get  Sky's  leg  out,"  said  Teddy.  "You 
pat  his  head — I  mean  Sky's  head,  Jan,  and 
that  will  let  him  know  we  aren't  going  to 
hurt  him." 

So  while  Top  looked  on,  whining  in  sym- 
pathy with  his  injured  dog  friend,  and  while 
Janet  softly  rubbed  the  head  of  Skyrocket, 
the  two  boys  opened  the  trap.  While  Jimmy 
held  it  steady  Teddy  stepped  on  the  strong 
spring  with  his  foot.  This  was  the  only  way 
to  open  it. 

In  another  moment  the  trap  was  gently 
pulled  loose  from  the  leg  of  Skyrocket,  and 
the  poor  dog,  with  a  whine  of  thanks,  man- 
aged to  stand  up.  He  tried  to  step  on  the 


148        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

injured  leg,  but  quickly  drew  it  up  with  a 
howl  of  pain. 

"Oh,  maybe  it's  broken!"  half  sobbed 
Janet. 

"A  dog  can  get  well  with  a  broken  leg,  but 
a  horse  can't,"  said  Jimmy.  "At  least  a 
horse  never  does,  because  he  is  so  big  he  can't 
be  kept  off  his  leg  until  it  heals.  A  horse 
can't  go  on  three  legs  like  a  dog." 

"A  horse  can  stand  up  on  two  legs,  and 
walk  a  little.  I've  seen  'em  in  a  circus!" 
declared  Janet.  "But  I  never  saw  a  horse 
go  on  three  legs." 

"There  goes  Skyrocket  on  three  legs!" 
called  Teddy,  for  his  pet  hobbled  along  a 
little  way,  to  a  drier  part  of  the  swamp,  and 
then  lay  down  and  began  licking  with  his  red 
tongue  the  leg  that  had  been  caught  in  a 
trap. 

"Look  and  see  if  it's  broken,"  suggested 
Jimmy.  "If  it  is,  we'd  better  tie  sticks 
around  it  like  the  principal  of  our  school  did 
one  day  when  Tommy  Hicks  broke  his  leg." 

"I  remember  that  time,"  responded 
Teddy.  "Easy  now,  old  fellow,"  he  said  to 
Skyrocket.  "Let  me  feel  your  leg  to  see  if 
it  is  broken." 

Gently,  very  gently,  Teddy  moved  his  fin- 


Mr.  Nip's  Alarm  149 

gers  along  the  injured  leg.  Skyrocket 
whined  a  little,  but  remained  lying  there 
quietly.  At  last  Teddy  stood  up. 

1  i  I  don 't  believe  it 's  broken, ' '  he  said.  * 1 1 
guess  it  was  only  pinched  hard  in  the  trap." 

"It's  a  smooth- jawed  trap,  not  the  kind 
with  the  teeth  like  a  saw,"  said  Jimmy,  look- 
ing at  the  trap  which  had  been  allowed  to 
spring  shut  after  Skyrocket's  leg  was  drawn 
out.  "They  use  big  traps,  with  terrible 
sharp  teeth  and  jaws,  to  catch  bears,"  said 
the  little  boy. 

"I'm  glad  this  wasn't  that  kind  of  trap," 
said  Janet.  "But  who  put  it  here,  any- 
how?" 

"It's  an  old  one,  and  rusty,"  went  on 
Jimmy,  looking  at  the  trap,  while  Teddy  got 
some  water  from  the  swamp  in  the  top  of 
his  cap,  and  poured  it  over  the  bruised  place 
where  Skyrocket's  leg  seemed  to  hurt  most. 
The  water  appeared  to  ease  the  pain  a  little, 
and  the  dog  whined  gratefully.  Top,  now 
that  his  work  of  bringing  someone  to  the 
rescue  was  over,  stretched  out  in  a  cool  place 
and  rested,  breathing  with  his  mouth  open 
and  his  tongue  hanging  out.  This  is  the  way 
dogs  always  cool  themselves. 

"Yes,  it's  an  old,  rusty  trap,"  agreed 


150        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

Teddy,  coming  up  to  look  at  the  thing  that 
had  caught  Skyrocket.  ' '  I  guess  some  musk- 
rat  hunter  left  it  here,  all  set  and  ready  to 
catch  some  animal  that  came  along,  ever 
since  last  winter.  Maybe  the  spring  was 
rusty,  and  not  so  strong,  and  that's  why  it 
didn't  break  Skyrocket's  leg." 

"I'm  glad  it  didn't!"  voiced  Janet. 

"  So  'm  I, "  echoed  Jimmy.  ' '  But  how  are 
you  going  to  get  Skyrocket  home?" 

"Oh,  it  isn't  far,  and  he  can  go  on  three 
legs,"  said  Teddy.  "Come  on,  old  fellow," 
he  called,  and  Skyrocket  managed  to  hobble 
along  the  brook  path  and  up  to  the  house. 
Top  walked  along  beside  him,  every  now  and 
then  putting  out  his  tongue  and  gently  lick- 
ing his  companion. 

"He's  kissing  him  'cause  he's  sorry,"  ob- 
served Janet. 

' '  We  're  all  sorry, ' '  declared  Teddy.  "  I  'm 
going  to  ask  mother  if  we  can't  have  the  ani- 
mal doctor  look  at  Skyrocket's  leg." 

' '  Why,  children !  what  is  the  matter  ?  Has 
anything  happened,  Curlytops  ?"  asked  Mrs. 
Martin,  who  had  reached  home  with  Trouble 
by  the  time  the  two  boys  and  Janet  made 
their  way  up  the  back  path  to  the  house. 

"Skyrocket's  leg  was  caught  in  a  trap, 


Mr.  Nip's  Alarm 151 

and  can't  we  have  the  animal  doctor  see  if 
it's  broken?"  Teddy  asked. 

Then  the  story  was  told,  not  forgetting  the 
brave  and  intelligent  part  played  by  Top, 
and  Mrs.  Martin  examined  Skyrocket's  sore 
leg. 

'•I  don't  believe  it  is  broken,  but  well 
have  the  doctor  look  to  make  sure,"  she  said. 

And  you  can  just  imagine  how  glad  the 
Curlytops  were,  and  Jimmy  also,  when  the 
doctor  said : 

"The  leg  is  not  broken,  but  it  is  badly 
bruised.  However,  it  will  be  well  in  a  week 
or  so.  Keep  Skyrocket  as  quiet  as  you  can." 

"  We  will !"  promised  Janet. 

"We  want  him  to  get  well  so  he  can  be  in 
the  circus,"  added  Teddy. 

"Oh,  I  guess  he'll  be  all  right  for  that," 
said  the  doctor,  with  a  laugh  as  he  hurried 
away  to  look  after  a  sick  horse. 

A  soft  bed  was  made  for  Skyrocket  in  the 
barn,  and  a  basin  of  fresh  water  was  placed 
near  him.  He  licked  Teddy 's  hands  in  grati- 
tude as  the  little  boy  patted  him  in  coming 
away. 

It  was  several  days  after  the  adventure 
with  Skyrocket  and  the  trap  that  something 


152        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

else  exciting  happened  at  the  home  of  the 
Curlytops. 

Mr.  Nip,  the  red,  green  and  yellow  parrot, 
became  ill.  His  feathers  were  ruffled  up,  he 
sat  all  in  a  lump  on  his  perch,  and  he  would 
not  eat. 

"I  guess  you'd  better  have  the  man  from 
the  bird  store  come  up  to  see  your  parrot," 
said  Mr.  Martin,  when  he  went  out  to  the 
barn  at  the  children's  request  to  look  at  Mr. 
Nip.  "Your  mother  will  call  the  bird  man 
on  the  telephone." 

And  when  the  bird  man — that  is  to  say 
the  man  who  kept  the  bird  and  fish  store — 
came  to  see  Mr.  Nip,  he  said  the  parrot 
should  be  kept  in  the  kitchen  and  fed  special 
food  with  a  little  medicine  in  it  for  a  few 
days. 

So  that  is  how  it  happened  that  Mr.  Nip 
was  moved  in  from  the  barn  to  the  house. 
And  it  was  the  third  night  that  the  parrot 
had  slept  in  the  house  that  something  hap- 
pened. 

In  the  middle  of  the  night  the  Curlytops 
were  awakened  by  hearing  Mr.  Nip  cry  out 
loudly : 

' '  Go  Vay !  Go  Vay !  I  'm  a  crack-crack- 
cracker  !  Get  out  of  here ! " 


Mr.  Nip's  Alarm 153 

Teddy  and  Janet,  who  seemed  to  be  the 
only  ones  awakened  by  this  alarm  of  Mr. 
Nip,  listened,  half  shivering  in  their  beds. 

"Did  you  hear  that?"  called  Teddy  to  his 
sister  in  the  next  room. 

' l  Yes.    What  is  it  ? ' '  inquired  Janet. 

"It's  Mr.  Nip,"  whispered  back  the  Cur- 
lytop  boy.  "He's  calling  to  someone.  May- 
be daddy  or  mother's  down  there  giving  him 
medicine." 

But  just  then  the  parrot  set  up  such  a 
screeching  as  the  children  had  never  heard, 
since  he  came  from  Uncle  Toby's  at  least. 

"Go  'way!  Go  'way!"  cried  the  bird. 
"  I  'm  a  crack-crack-cracker !  Police !  Fire  I 
Burglars!" 

And  then,  to  the  surprise  and  terror  of 
the  Curlytops,  a  strange  voice,  somewhere 
downstairs  in  their  house,  exclaimed  in  a 
harsh  whisper: 

"Do  something  to  that  parrot!  Throw  a 
rug  over  his  cage,  or  he'll  have  the  whole 
house  awake.  Make  him  be  quiet!" 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  HAND-ORGAN  MAN 

THE  Curlytops  cuddled  down  in  their 
beds.  Janet  said  afterward  that  she  pulled 
the  clothes  over  her  ears.  Teddy  did  the 
same  at  first,  and  then  he  began  to  think. 
And  his  first  thought  was  that  someone  be- 
sides those  who  had  a  right  to  be  there,  were 
in  his  mother's  kitchen.  And  of  course  the 
next  thought  that  came  to  Teddy  was : 

"Burglars!" 

Somehow  or  other  he  happened  to  hit  on 
just  exactly  the  very  thing  that  was  happen- 
ing downstairs. 

"Jan!  Janet !"  hoarsely  whispered 
Teddy,  thrusting  his  head  out  from  under 
the  sheet  he  had  pulled  over  himself. 

But  Janet  did  not  answer. 

From  down  in  the  kitchen,  however,  the 
little  Curlytop  boy  could  plainly  hear  the 
parrot  saying: 

154 


The  Hand-Organ  Man  155 

"I'm  a  crack-crack-cracker!" 

"I'll  hit  him  a  crack  if  he  doesn't  keep 
quiet!"  said  a  harsh  voice.  "Do  you  hear 
anyone  coming,  Bill?" 

"No,"  replied  another  voice,  which,  Teddy 
thought,  must  belong  to  the  man  called  Bill. 

"They're  burglars  trying  to  get  our  par- 
rot!" quickly  thought  Teddy.  "  I  'm  not  go- 
ing to  let  them  have  Mr.  Nip.  If  they  take 
him  away  he  can't  be  in  our  circus.  Course 
he  can't  do  tricks  like  Skyrocket  and  Topt 
but  he's  nice  to  look  at.  The  burglars  shan't 
get  Mr.  Nip!" 

Teddy  slipped  out  of  bed  and  went,  as 
softly  as  he  could,  to  the  room  where  his 
father  and  mother  slept.  They  were  sound 
in  slumber,  which  is  the  reason  neither  of 
them  heard  the  parrot  talking  and  screech- 
ing. Besides,  the  rooms  of  Teddy  and  Janet 
were  nearer  the  kitchen. 

"Daddy!  Mother!  Wake  up!"  whispered 
Teddy. 

The  sound  of  his  parents'  heavy  breathing 
was  the  only  answer  the  little  boy  received. 

"Daddy!  Mother!"  he  called  again. 
"Wake  up!  There's  a  burglar  downstairs, 
and  he's  trying  to  take  Mr.  Nip!" 

There  was  silence  for  a  moment,  and  then 


156        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

Teddy  reached  over  and  gently  pulled  his 
mother  by  her  hand,  which  was  hanging 
down  outside  the  bed. 

"What  is  it?  What's  the  matter?"  sud- 
denly asked  Mrs.  Martin.  In  another  in- 
stant she  had  pulled  the  cord  attached  to  an 
electric  light  over  her  bed,  and  the  room  was 
bright  in  a  moment.  Then  Mr.  Martin  awak- 
ened, and  both  parents  looked  at  the  little 
Curlytop  boy. 

"What's  the  matter,  Ted?  Walking  in 
your  sleep  ?"  asked  his  father.  For  some- 
times Teddy  did  do  that. 

In  answer  the  little  fellow  put  his  finger 
to  his  lips  to  make  his  father  and  mother 
understand  that  he  wanted  them  to  keep 
quiet. 

"It's  burglars — two  of  'em!"  whispered 
Teddy.  "One  is  named  Bill,  but  I  don't 
know  the  other  one's  name.  They've  come 
to  get  Mr.  Mp." 

"What's  that — our  parrot?  Nonsense!" 
exclaimed  Mr.  Martin.  "You  have  been 
dreaming,  Teddy,  my  boy.  Go  back  to  bed. " 

But  just  then,  from  down  in  the  kitchen, 
came  the  voice  of  the  parrot  shrieking: 

"I'm  a  crack-crack-cracker!  Police,  Fire! 
Burglars!" 


The  Hand-Organ  Man  157 

Then  came  a  banging,  clashing  sound,  and 
a  man's  voice  cried: 

'  *  There !    See  if  that  will  keep  you  quiet  I ' ' 

An  instant  later  there  was  a  sound  as  if 
the  parrot's  cage  had  been  knocked  over,  or 
had  tumbled  over,  and  Mr.  Nip  cried : 

"Help!    Help!    Help!" 

Out  of  bed  jumped  Mr.  Martin,  going  to- 
ward the  closet  where  he  kept  his  revolver. 

"It  is  burglars!"  he  whispered. 

"Oh,  you  mustn't  go  down!  They  might 
shoot  you!  Go  to  the  window  and  call  the 
police !"  begged  Mrs.  Martin,  clinging  to  her 
husband. 

Mr.  Martin  did  both.  He  went  to  the  win- 
dow and  fired  a  shot  from  his  revolver  up 
into  the  air.  My !  what  a  loud  noise  it  made, 
and  it  set  Skyrocket  and  Top  to  barking  out 
in  the  barn.  Perhaps  the  monkey  chattered, 
also,  but  he  could  not  be  heard.  However, 
Mr.  Nip's  shrill  shrieking  seemed  to  resound 
all  over  the  neighborhood. 

There  was  a  moon,  and  as  he  looked  from 
his  bedroom  window  Mr.  Martin,  by  its  light, 
saw  two  men  running  out  of  the  side  gate. 

"There  go  the  burglars!"  he  cried,  and 
again  he  fired  a  shot.  This  made  the  strange 


158        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

men  run  all  the  faster,  and  by  this  time 
Trouble  had  awakened  and  was  crying. 

"  Janet,  you  come  in  and  stay  with 
Trouble,"  called  Mrs.  Martin.  "Ill  get 
dressed,  and  then,  when  the  police  come,  we 
must  see  what  the  burglars  have  taken !  Oh, 
what  a  dreadful  night !  I  hope  they  haven't 
stolen  much!" 

"And  I  hope  they  didn't  take  Mr.  Nip," 
echoed  Teddy. 

"I  don't  believe  they  carried  away  much 
of  anything,"  Mr.  Martin  remarked,  as  he 
slipped  on  his  bath  robe.  ' '  I  didn  't  see  them 
carry  much  as  they  ran." 

By  this  time  Janet  had  gone  in  to  Trouble, 
comforting  him,  stopping  his  frightened 
sobs,  and  telling  him  a  little  story.  And  then 
several  neighbors,  roused  by  Mr.  Martin's 
shooting,  came  in,  and  a  little  later  the  po- 
lice arrived. 

An  examination  was  made  in  the  kitchen, 
and  it  was  found  that  the  burglars  had 
broken  open  a  window  and  had  thus  come 
into  the  house.  But  no  sooner  had  they  en- 
tered than  Mr.  Nip  roused  up  and  began  to 
talk.  And  it  was  his  talk  and  his  loud  voice 
that  had  awakened  Janet  and  Teddy. 

The  burglars,  fearing  the  parrot  would 


The  Hand-Organ  Man 159 

awaken  someone,  had  tried  to  silence  him 
by  throwing  something  over  the  cage.  But 
the  bird,  who  was  always  more  excited  when 
strangers  were  around,  kept  on  screeching 
and  yelling.  Then  one  of  the  burglars,  in 
his  anger,  must  have  thrown  something  at 
the  parrot's  cage,  knocking  it  over,  and  this 
was  one  of  the  crashes  heard  upstairs. 

"Poor  Mr.  Nip ! "  said  Teddy,  when  he  was 
allowed  to  come  down  with  his  father  and 
mother.  The  parrot's  cage  was  set  upright 
again,  no  damage  having  been  done. 

The  excitement  seemed  to  have  made  Mr. 
Nip  feel  better,  for  he  showed  no  signs  of 
illness  as  he  cried  again  and  again: 

"Police!  Fire!  Burglars!  I'm  a  crack- 
crack-cracker!" 

"You're  a  good  polly!"  declared  Mrs. 
Martin.  "You  saved  our  house  from  being 
robbed!" 

And  there  is  no  question  but  what  Mr. 
Nip  had  done  that.  Bringing  the  sick  par- 
rot into  the  kitchen  had  been  the  means  of 
scaring  away  the  burglars.  No  thieves  will 
stay  in  a  house  at  night  if  they  hear  someone 
moving  around,  or  hear  voices,  and  these  bad 
men  may  have  thought  at  first  that  Mr.  Nip 
was  some  real  person,  calling  for  the  police. 


160        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

At  any  rate  the  burglars  ran  away,  not 
getting  anything  that  they  came  to  steal. 
And  it  was  all  due  to  Mr.  Nip. 

"He'll  sure  be  in  our  circus  now,"  said 
Teddy,  as  he  made  ready  to  go  back  to  bed 
again,  the  neighbors  and  police  having  left. 
"Everybody  will  want  to  see  a  parrot  that 
drove  away  two  burglars,  won't  they, 
Daddy?" 

"They  probably  will,  Teddy  boy,"  his 
father  replied.  "Well,  one  of  Uncle  Toby's 
pets  has  more  than  paid  for  his  board  bill 
by  to-night's  work." 

"Aren't  you  glad  we  got  'em?"  asked 
Teddy. 

"Yes,  I  guess  I  am,"  his  father  answered, 
laughing. 

"  Say !  I  wish  I  'd  been  over  to  your  house 
last  night,"  exclaimed  Jimmy  Norton  to 
Teddy,  when  the  story  of  the  attempt  to  rob 
was  being  talked  over  among  the  children. 

"Well,  I  was  wishing  I  was  somewhere 
else,"  said  Janet.  "Oh,  but  I  was  scared!" 

"I  was  at  first,  but  I  knew  I  had  to  tell 
my  mother  or  my  father,"  remarked  Teddy. 
"So  I  got  out  of  bed." 

"Teddy  was  brave,"  declared  Janet. 

"Oh,  that  wasn't  anything, "  the  little  Cur- 


The  Hand-Organ  Man  161 

lytop  boy  said  modestly.  '  '  I  wasn  't  as  brave 
as  Mr.  Nip.  He  called  the  burglars  names  1" 

"  Everybody  will  be  glad  to  come  to  the 
circus  to  see  him/'  said  Harry  Kent,  who 
was  going  to  help  with  the  show. 

"Well  put  Mr.  Nip  in  a  special  cage,  and 
put  a  sign  on  so  people  will  know  he's  the 
parrot  that  scared  the  burglars,"  suggested 
fat  Jackie  Turton. 

In  fact,  Mr.  Nip  became  quite  celebrated. 
For  there  was  an  account  in  the  newspaper 
of  the  attempted  burglary  at  the  Martin 
house,  and  the  part  the  parrot  had  played 
was  well  told,  so  that  all  over  Cresco  Mr. 
Nip  was  talked  about. 

"It's  a  good  advertisement  for  our  cir- 
cus, isn't  it,  Daddy?"  asked  Teddy,  for  the 
paper  mentioned  that  the  Curlytops  had  a 
number  of  pets  they  were  getting  ready  to 
place  on  exhibition  in  a  show. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Martin,  "it  is." 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  money 
you  get  from  your  circus — if  you  get  any?" 
asked  Mrs.  Martin  of  the  Curlytops  one  day 
about  a  week  after  the  burglars  had  gotten 
in.  By  this  time  Mr.  Nip  was  quite  well 
again,  and  could  go  back  to  the  barn  to  be 


162        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

with  the  monkey,  the  alligator  and  the  white 
mice  and  the  rats. 

"Oh,  we'll  get  some  money,"  declared 
Teddy.  "But  I  don't  know  what  well  do 
with  it.  Maybe  we'll  buy  more  pets." 

"Oh,  I  hope  not!"  laughed  his  mother. 
"You  have  enough  now." 

As  the  days  passed  the  Curlytops  and  their 
friends  worked  with  Uncle  Toby's  animals, 
teaching  them  several  new  tricks.  More 
than  once  Teddy  and  Janet  wished  they  had 
Tip,  the  missing  dog,  as  he  had  performed 
so  well  with  Top.  But  no  word  had  come 
about  him,  and  it  was  felt  he  was  gone  for- 
ever. 

"Skyrocket  is  good,"  Teddy  told  his  boy 
chums,  "but  he  isn't  as  good  a  trick  dog  as 
Tip  and  Top  were  when  they  did  their  tricks 
together." 

"Maybe  we  can  teach  Jack,  the  monkey, 
some  new  tricks,"  suggested  Harry  Kent. 

"Oh,  yes,  Jack  must  learn  a  lot  of  tricks," 
agreed  Teddy.  "We'll  start  on  him  now,  I 
guess,  as  about  the  only  tricks  Snuff  can  do 
are  to  roll  around  on  the  football  and  jump 
through  a  paper  hoop." 

That  last  trick  was  a  new  one,  and  really 
had  not  been  intended  for  Snuff.  One  day 


The  Hand-Organ  Man 163 

Teddy  and  Janet  were  getting  some  paper- 
covered  hoops  i*ady  for  Skyrocket  or  Top  to 
jump  through,  as  the  dogs  seemed  to  like 
that  trick.  Snuff  and  Turnover  were  play- 
ing together  near  by,  and  when  Turnover 
chased  Snuff,  the  Persian  cat  leaped  right 
through  a  paper  hoop. 

"Oh,  if  we  could  only  make  him  do  that 
for  the  circus!"  Janet  cried.  "It  would  be 
great!" 

"We'll  try,"  Teddy  had  said.  And,  after 
many  trials,  they  did  succeed  in  getting 
Snuff  to  leap  through  a  paper  hoop.  It  was 
a  fine  trick. 

But  now  the  Curlytops  planned  to  teach 
Jack,  their  monkey,  some  tricks  in  addition 
to  a  few  that  he  had  learned  from  Uncle 
Toby  or  the  sailor.  So  Jack  was  brought  out 
from  his  cage  and  given  a  banana,  fruit  of 
which  he  was  very  fond. 

"What  trick  shall  we  teach  him?"  asked 
Janet. 

"I  think  a  jumping  trick  would  be  good," 
Teddy  answered.  "I'll  go  and  get  some 
boxes,  and  we'll  make  a  high  thing,  like  a 
tower,  of  them.  We'll  get  Jack  up  on  top, 
and  have  him  jump  down.  That  will  be 
great,  won't  it?" 


164        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

' i  Fine, ' '  agreed  Janet.  "  I  '11  help  you  get 
the  boxes," 

The  Curlytops  left  their  monkey  sitting 
on  a  bench  in  the  yard  while  they  went  back 
into  the  barn  after  the  boxes.  Jack  was 
peacefully  eating  his  banana  when  Teddy 
and  Janet  left  him.  But  when  the  children 
came  out  with  the  boxes,  it  having  taken 
longer  to  find  them  than  they  had  thought, 
Jack  was  not  to  be  seen. 

"Oh,  Jack  is  gone!"  cried  Janet,  looking 
around. 

"Maybe  he's  up  in  a  tree,"  suggested 
Teddy.  "Here,  Jack!  Jack!"  he  called. 

But  there  was  no  chattering  answer,  and 
the  monkey  was  not  to  be  found.  He  had 
not  gone  back  into  the  barn,  where  the  other 
pets  were,  and  Trouble,  who  was  playing  in 
the  back  yard,  said  Jack  had  not  passed  him. 

"Where  can  he  be?"  asked  Janet.  She 
and  Teddy  were  beginning  to  worry,  when 
Mrs.  Johnson,  into  whose  baby  carriage 
Slider  had  once  been  put  by  Baby  William, 
called  from  across  the  street: 

"Are  you  looking  for  your  dog,  children  ? ' ' 

"No'm.  For  our  monkey,"  answered 
Teddy. 

"Oh,   maybe   the   hand-organ   man   has 


The  Hand-Organ  Man 165 

him, ' '  said  Mrs.  Johnson.  *  *  I  saw  an  Italian 
with  an  organ  go  into  your  yard  a  little 
while  ago." 

"Did  he  have  a  monkey  with  him?"  asked 
Teddy. 

"I  don't  much  believe  that  he  did.  I  saw 
the  man  go  in,  but  I  didn't  notice  a  monkey. 
But  I  remember  now  that  when  the  organ 
man  came  out,  he  had  a  monkey  with  him. 
Maybe  it  was  yours." 

"I'm  sure  it  was!"  cried  Janet.  "Oh, 
Ted  I  The  hand-organ  man  has  taken  Jack  1 
He  took  Jack  when  we  were  in  the  barn !" 

"I  didn't  hear  any  hand-organ  music," 
Teddy  said. 

"Course  he  wouldn't  play  when  he  came 
to  get  Jack!"  exclaimed  Jan,  with  tears  in 
her  eyes.  "Oh,  Ted,  go  for  the  police!  The 
hand-organ  man  has  taken  our  monkey !  Oh 
dear!" 


CHAPTER  XIV 

TURNOVER  AND  SKYROCKET 

PERHAPS  it  would  have  been  better  for  the 
Curlytops  to  have  run  into  the  house  and 
have  told  their  mother  about  the  missing 
monkey.  But  neither  Janet  nor  Teddy 
thought  of  this,  because  they  were  so  excited 
over  the  news  that  Mrs.  Johnson  gave  them 
— the  news  that  Jack  had  been  taken  away 
by  a  hand-organ  man. 

"We've  got  to  get  him  back  I"  cried  Teddy. 

' '  Of  course ! ' '  agreed  Janet.  ' '  It  won  Jt  be 
half  a  circus  without  a  monkey  in  it." 

"Come  on!"  called  Ted,  and  out  of  the 
yard  he  ran,  followed  by  Janet.  The  Curly- 
tops  took  one  look  to  make  sure  that  Trouble 
was  safe  before  going  away  and  leaving  him. 
The  little  fellow  was  playing  with  Turnover 
and  Skyrocket.  He  would  do  that  for  a  long 
time. 

Out  of  the  yard  and  down  the  street  ran 

166 


Turnover  and  Skyrocket  167 

the  little  boy  and  girl,  thinking  only  of  get- 
ting their  monkey  back. 

1  'Did  he  go  this  way?"  Teddy  called  to 
Mrs.  Johnson,  who  was  watching  him  and 
his  sister. 

"Yes,  right  down  that  street,"  answered 
the  mother  of  Baby  Ruth.  "But  you  had 
better  not  chase  after  him.  He  might  not 
give  Jack  back  to  you,  and  he  might  be  cross, 
and  maybe  it  wasn't  your  monkey  he  had  at 
all,  Curlytops!" 

But  Teddy  and  Janet  did  not  stay  to  hear 
all  this.  They  hurried  on,  Teddy  a  little 
ahead  of  his  sister,  because,  being  a  boy  and 
a  year  older,  he  could  go  faster.  But  every 
now  and  then  he  stopped  to  wait  for  her. 
They  turned  the  corner  of  a  street,  and 
Teddy,  being  in  the  lead,  had  the  first  glimpse 
down  it. 

"Do  you  see  him?"  gasped  Janet,  hurry- 
ing up  to  the  side  of  her  brother. 

"No,  he  isn't  here,"  was  the  answer. 

Mr.  Anderson,  who  left  groceries  at  the 
home  of  the  Curlytops,  came  along  just  then 
in  the  delivery  wagon. 

"Whoa!"  he  called  to  his  horse.  And 
then,  seeing  that  Teddy  and  Janet  were  wor- 
ried about  something,  he  asked  them :  "Have 


168        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

you  lost  your  little  brother?"  Mr.  Ander- 
son knew  how  often  Trouble  ran  away. 

' '  No,  sir, ' '  answered  Teddy.  ' t  We  're  look- 
ing for  our  monkey." 

"And  the  hand-organ  man,"  added  Janet. 

' '  Monkey  ?  Hand-organ  man  ? ' '  exclaimed 
Mr.  Anderson.  "Are  you  going  to  give  a 
party,  and  do  you  want  the  hand-organ  man 
to  play  at  it,  and  the  monkey  to  do  tricks?" 

"Oh,  no,  this  is  our  own  pet  monkey,"  ex- 
claimed Janet. 

"The  hand-organ  man  took  him  away 
when  he  was  eating  a  banana, "  added  Teddy. 

"Our  monkey — his  name  is  Jack — lie  was 
eating  the  banana — not  the  hand-organ 
man,"  said  Jan,  fearing  Mr.  Anderson  might 
not  understand  what  her  brother  meant. 

"And  he  does  tricks,  and  we're  going  to 
have  him  in  our  little  circus — I  mean  our 
monkey  does  tricks,"  went  on  Teddy. 

"Well,  I  guess  I'll  get  the  straight  of  it 
after  a  while,"  said  Mr.  Anderson,  with  a 
little  laugh.  "Anyhow  it  seems  that  some 
stray  hand-organ  man  has  taken  your  mon- 
key,  has  he?" 

"Yes.  And  we  want  our  monkey  back!" 
cried  Janet. 

"Then  you'd  better  get  up  here  in  the 


Turnover  and  Skyrocket 169 

wagon  with  me,"  went  on  the  grocery  man, 
"and  I'll  drive  you  down  the  street.  It  will 
be  quicker  than  walking,  and,  as  I've  de- 
livered all  the  orders,  I'm  in  no  hurry  to  get 
back  to  the  store.  Hop  up,  Curlytops!" 

He  helped  Janet  and  Teddy  to  the  seat  be- 
side him,  and  drove  off.  It  was  not  the  first 
time  the  children  had  ridden  with  Mr.  An- 
derson, for  he  often  took  them  with  him  when 
he  had  occasion  to  stop  at  their  house. 

"Do  you  know  which  street  he  went 
down?"  asked  the  grocery  man,  as  he  called 
to  his  brown  horse  which  started  off  again. 

* '  We  don 't  know, ' '  answered  Teddy.  * '  We 
didn't  see  him.  We  were  in  the  barn,  get- 
ting some  boxes  so  Jack — that's  the  monkey 
— could  do  some  tricks.  We  left  him  eating 
a  banana,  and  when  we  came  out  he  was 
gone.  But  Mrs.  Johnson  said  she  saw  a 
hand-organ  man  come  out  of  our  yard  and 
he  had  a  monkey." 

"And  it  must  'a'  been  Jack !"  added  Janet. 

"Well,  well  try  to  get  him  back  for  you," 
promised  Mr.  Anderson,  as  he  guided  the 
horse  down  the  street.  "And  we'll  ask  some 
of  the  people  we  meet  if  they  have  seen 
Jack." 

"Oh,  now  I  know  we'll  get  him  back!"  ex- 


170        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

claimed  Janet,  and  there  was  a  smile  on  her 
face  where,  before,  there  had  been  a  sad 
look,  which  always  came  just  before  she 
cried.  "I'm  glad  we  met  you,  Mr.  Ander- 
son, "  she  said. 

"So  am  I,"  agreed  Teddy. 

The  first  person  they  met  was  Patrick,  the 
man  who  worked  for  Mrs.  Blake,  the  lady 
into  whose  house  Jack  made  his  way  one 
night,  making  Mrs.  Blake  think  he  was  a 
fuzzy  burglar. 

"Oh,  Patrick!"  cried  Teddy,  "a  hand- 
organ  man  took  our  monkey  away.  Have 
you  seen  him?" 

"Which?  The  hand-organ  man  or  the 
monkey?"  asked  Mrs.  Blake's  gardener. 

' '  Either  one, ' '  said  Janet.  ' l  He 's  the  same 
monkey  that  was  once  in  your  house,  you 
know." 

"Yes,"  returned  Patrick,  with  a  smile,  "I 
know.  Well,  I'm  sorry,  but  I  didn't  see 
either  the  hand-organ  man  or  the  monkey." 

"Giddap!"  called  Mr.  Anderson  to  his 
horse.  "We  must  try  someone  else." 

They  drove  along  a  little  farther,  and  next 
they  met  Sam  White,  a  colored  man,  who 
cut  grass  and  did  other  work  for  the  neigh- 
bors of  the  Curlytops. 


Turnover  and  Skyrocket  171 

"Oh,  Sam!  have  you  seen  our  monkey, 
Jack?  "called  Teddy. 

"Seen  a  monkey?  No'm,  I  hasn't,"  an- 
swered the  colored  man,  who  had  been  wheel- 
ing a  lawn-mower. 

"Did  you  see  a  hand-organ  man?"  asked 
Janet. 

"Yes'm,  I  done  seen  a  hand-organ  man," 
was  the  answer.  * '  He 's  j  est  'round  de  corner 
ob  de  next  street.  But  I  didn't  see  him  hab 
no  monkey." 

"Maybe  he  has  our  monkey  hidden  inside 
the  hand-organ  so  no  one  will  see  Jack!" 
cried  Teddy.  "Please  hurry,  Mr.  Ander- 
son!" 

"I  will,"  promised  the  grocery  man. 
"Giddap  there,  Molasses!"  he  called  to  his 
horse.  1 1  We  're  in  a  hurry ! ' ' 

And  as  they  turned  the  corner  of  the  street, 
toward  which  Sam  White  had  pointed,  there 
came  to  the  ears  of  the  Curlytops  the  strains 
of  hand-organ  music. 

"There  he  is!  I  see  him!"  cried  Janet, 
pointing.  "He's  stopped,  and  he's  play- 
ing!" 

"Yes,  and  I  see  our  monkey,  too!"  added 
Teddy.  "Please  hurry  down  there,  Mr. 


172        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

Anderson,  and  well  take  Jack  away  from 
that  bad  hand-organ  man." 

"Maybe  it  isn't  your  monkey,"  said  the 
grocer.  "All  monkeys  look  alike  to  me.  I 
couldn't  tell  one  from  the  other,  but  maybe 
you  can.  Giddap,  Molasses ! "  he  called  again 
to  his  horse,  and  down  the  street  clattered 
the  Curlytops. 

They  came  to  a  stop  in  front  of  the  organ 
grinder  just  as  the  dark-colored  Italian 
ground  out  the  last  strains  of  a  tune.  And 
there,  surely  enough,  perched  on  the  top  of 
the  organ,  was  a  monkey. 

' '  Jack  I  Jack  I  Come  here ! ' '  cried  Teddy, 
getting  ready  to  jump  down  from  his  seat  in 
the  wagon.  I 

"Come  away  from  that  bad  man!"  added 
Janet.  I 

The  organ  grinder  turned  quickly,  gave 
one  look  at  the  Curlytops  and  at  Mr.  Ander- 
son, and  then,  slinging  his  organ  up  on  his 
back,  started  hurriedly  down  the  street,  tak- 
ing the  monkey  with  him. 

"Here!  Hold  on  a  minute!"  called  the 
grocer,  getting  down  off  the  seat,  and  then 
helping  Teddy  and  Janet  down.  "If  you 
have  a  monkey  belonging  to  these  children 


Turnover  and  Skyrocket  173 

you  must  give  it  back,  or  I'll  call  a  police- 
man!" 

"No!  No!"  jabbered  the  Italian.  "Dis 
a-monk  mine !  Long  time  mine !  No  belong 
childerns !  Goo  '-bye  1 ' ' 

He  would  have  been  off  down  the  street 
and  around  the  corner  in  another  few  sec- 
onds, but  Teddy,  rushing  after  him,  looked 
and  made  sure  it  really  was  Jack  that  the 
organ  player  had  with  him.  There  was  a 
queer  little  tuft  of  white  hair  on  the  end  of 
Jack's  tail,  and  this  monkey  had  the  same 
mark. 

"Jack!  Jack!"  cried  Teddy.  "Come  on 
to  me!  I'll  give  you  all  the  bananas  you 
want!" 

"Dis-a  my  monk!"  jabbered  the  Italian. 

"He  is  not!  He's  ours!"  declared  Janet, 
as  she  hurried  up  to  the  side  of  her  brother. 
"Make  him  give  back  our  monkey  that  we 
got  from  Uncle  Toby  I"  she  appealed  to  Mr. 
Anderson. 

"If  he  doesn't,"  said  the  grocer,  "I'll  call 
a  policeman  and " 

But  just  then  Jack  acted  for  himself. 
With  a  shrill  chatter  he  broke  loose  from 
the  string  that  was  tied  to  the  collar  about 
his  neck.  There  had  been  no  cord  on  him 


174        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

when  he  was  eating  a  banana  in  the  yard  of 
the  Curlytops,  and  the  hand-organ  man  must 
have  tied  it  there  after  he  took  the  children's 
pet.  Once  free,  Jack  made  one  leap  and 
landed  safe  in  Teddy's  arms. 

Now,  Jack  was  rather  a  large  monkey,  and, 
jumping  from  a  distance,  as  Jack  did,  he 
knocked  Teddy  over.  Flat  down  on  the  side- 
walk sat  Teddy,  the  monkey  clinging  with  its 
hairy  arms  about  the  little  boy's  neck. 

"Oh!  Oh!"  exclaimed  Janet,  and  then 
she  stopped,  for  she  did  not  know  what  else 
to  say. 

1 1  Look  out  I ' '  cried  Mr.  Anderson.  ' '  May- 
be that's  a  savage  monkey,  and  he'll  bite 
you!" 

"This  is  Jack  all  right,"  declared  Teddy. 
"I  know  him  and  he  knows  me.  He  didn't 
hurt  me.  I — I  just  sat  down,  that's  all," 
and  the  little  Curlytop  boy  laughed. 

Jack  chattered,  clung  tighter  to  his  mas- 
ter, and  then  the  crowd  that  had  gathered 
also  laughed.  For  it  looked  so  odd  to  see 
Teddy  sitting  on  the  sidewalk,  with  a  mon- 
key, quite  a  large  one,  clinging  to  his  neck. 

"What's  the  matter  here?  What's  the 
trouble?"  asked  a  gruff  but  not  unkindly 


JACK  MADE  OXE  LEAP  AND  LANDED  SAFELY  IX  TEDDY'S  ARMS 
The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets."  p     e  j"74 


Turnover  and  Skyrocket  175 

voice,  and  on  the  outside  of  the  crowd  ap- 
peared Policeman  Cassidy. 

"Oh,  Cassidy,"  said  Mr.  Anderson,  "this 
Italian  took  the  Curlytops'  monkey,  and  they 
just  got  him  back — I  mean  they  got  the  mon- 
key back.  The  Italian " 

But  with  a  half -smothered  cry  of  anger, 
the  Italian  started  to  run  down  the  street, 
his  hand-organ  swaying  from  side  to  side  on 
his  back.  He  had  no  wish  to  meet  Policeman 
Cassidy  and  be  arrested  for  having  taken 
Jack. 

And  that  is  just  what  the  Italian  had  done. 
He  had  sneaked  into  the  yard  and,  seeing 
the  monkey  unfastened  and  eating  a  banana, 
had  picked  up  the  pet  and  hurried  off  with 
him.  The  Italian  must  have  known  how  to 
talk  to  and  handle  monkeys,  for  Jack  made 
no  outcry,  but  went  peaceably  with  his  cap- 
tor. Perhaps  the  monkey  was  afraid  of  be- 
ing beaten.  And,  so  that  Jack  could  not  get 
away,  the  Italian  had  tied  a  string  to  the 
collar. 

But,  thanks  to  Mr.  Anderson  and  the 
grocery  wagon,  the  Curlytops  had  gotten 
back  their  pet.  The  Italian  had  not  played 
his  organ  very  near  the  home  of  Teddy  and 
Janet  for  fear  of  their  hearing  it,  I  suppose. 


176        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

But  when  he  thought  he  was  far  enough 
away  he  started,  and  Sam  White  had  heard 
him. 

"  Maybe  the  hand-organ  man  kept  Jack 
hidden  under  his  coat  until  he  got  down 
here,"  said  Janet. 

"Perhaps,"  agreed  the  grocer,  as  the 
crowd  began  to  melt  away,  seeing  there  was 
to  be  no  more  excitement.  "And  now  if  you 
Curlytops,  and  your  monkey,  will  get  into 
the  wagon,  I'll  drive  you  back  home." 

"Do  you  want  me  to  chase  after  that  Ital-j 
ian  and  arrest  him?"  asked  the  policeman. 

"No,  thank  you,  I  guess  not,"  answered' 
Teddy,  as  he  rubbed  Jack 's  fuzzy  head.  ' '  We 
got  our  monkey  back,  and  now  we  can  start 
to  teach  him  some  tricks  for  the  circus. 
We'll  send  you  a  free  ticket  to  the  show, 
Mr.  Anderson,  'cause  you  helped  us  get  Jack 
back." 

Janet  whispered  something  to  her  brother. 

"Oh,  yes,"  added  the  little  fellow,  "we'd 
like  to  have  you  come,  too,  Mr.  Policeman 
Cassidy." 

"I'll  come  and  stand  guard  at  the  ticket: 
wagon,"  laughed  the  big,  good-natured  of- 
ficer. "And  if  I  see  that  Italian  sneaking 
up  I'll  chase  him." 


Turnover  and  Skyrocket  177 

"I  guess  he  won't  come,"  said  Teddy. 
Then  he  and  his  sister  climbed  up  on  the 
seat  beside  Mr.  Anderson  and  were  driven 
back  to  their  home.  It  was  time,  too,  for 
their  mother  was  out  at  the  gate,  holding 
Trouble  by  the  hand,  and  looking  up  and 
down  the  street. 

•  "Where  have  you  been,  Curly-tops?"  she 
asked  them.  "And  what  are  you  doing  in 
Mr.  Anderson's  wagon — and  with  the  mon- 
key? Did  Jack  run  away?"  she  asked. 

"He  was  taken  away,"  explained  Teddy. 

"By  an  old  organ  grinder,"  added  Janet. 

And  then  the  story  was  told. 

"Dear  me,"  said  Mrs.  Martin,  when  it  was 
finished.  "  I  'm  sure  if  your  father  and  I  had 
known  all  the  things  that  were  going  to  hap- 
pen because  of  Uncle  Toby's  pets,  we  would 
not  have  brought  them  home." 

"Oh,  it's  fun!"  laughed  Teddy,  slipping 
down  with  Jack. 

"And  Policeman  Cassidy  is  coming  to  our 
circus,"  said  Janet. 

"Don't  forget  me!"  called  Mr.  Anderson, 
as  he  drove  away  with  the  wagon. 

"We  won't!"  promised  the  Curlytops. 

"You  been  take  Jack  to  barber's?"  asked 


178        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

Trouble,  letting  go  his  mother's  hand  to  pat; 
the  monkey. 

"The  barber's?"  repeated  Teddy,  as  he 
put  Jack  down  on  a  box  and  gave  the  pet  a 
banana,  as  had  been  promised.  '  *  What  made 
him  think  that?"  Teddy  asked  his  mother. 

"He's  been  singing  that  Mother  Goose 
verse,  'Barber,  barber!  shave  a  pig.  How 
many  hairs  will  make  a  wig?  Four  and 
twenty,  that's  enough,  give  the  barber  a 
pinch  of  snuff. '  I  suppose  Trouble  thought 
maybe  Snuff,  the  cat,  had  something  to  do 
with  a  barber,  and  he  got  Jack  mixed  up  in 
it  somehow.  But  I  am  glad  you  Curlytops 
are  home  again.  I  was  getting  worried  about 
you.  What  are  you  going  to  do  now?" 

"Teach  Jack  to  jump  off  a  high  tower  of 
boxes,"  explained  Ted.  "We  were  getting 
ready  to  do  that  when  the  Italian  took  Jack. 
Come  on,  Janet,  we'll  make  the  box  tower." 

"Me  help!"  cried  Trouble. 

"Oh,  you'll  be  more  bother  than  you  will 
help,"  replied  Janet.  "You  11  be  knocking 
the  tower  over  all  the  while,  or  trying  to 
climb  up  on  it.  You  go  and  play  with  Sky- 
rocket and  Turnover,"  she  advised,  as  the 
dog  and  cat  came  around  the  path. 

"All  wite!    Me  make  Turn  an'  Sky  do 


Turnover  and  Skyrocket  179 

circus  twicks !"  said  Trouble,  talking  half  to 
himself. 

Having  made  sure  that  Jack  was  comf  ort-j 
able  and  had  not  been  harmed  by  the  Italian 
who  took  him  away,  the  Curlytops  set  about 
building,  of  old  packing  boxes,  the  tower  off 
which  they  hoped  their  monkey  would  leap, 
thus  doing  a  new  trick  for  the  pet  circus. 
Teddy  and  Janet  were  so  busy  they  paid  no 
attention  to  Trouble,  except  to  notice,  now 
and  then,  that  he  was  playing  at  the  end  of 
the  yard  with  Skyrocket  and  Turnover,  or 
"Sky"  and  "Turn,"  as  he  shortened  the 
pets'  names. 

"There,  I  guess  the  tower  is  high  enough 
for  the  first  few  jumps,"  Teddy  remarked, 
as  he  nailed  in  place  the  last  of  the  boxes. 
"We  don't  want  Jack  to  jump  down  from 
too  high  a  place  at  first." 

"No,"  agreed  Janet,  "we  don't.  He  might 
hurt  himself,  or  he  might  get  scared,  and 
then  he  wouldn't  want  to  be  in  the  circus. 
But  we  ought  to  have  some  sort  of  net  for 
him  to  jump  into,  didn't  we  ought,  Teddy?" 

"I  guess  we  did,"  said  the  Curlytop  boy. 
"Then  we  can  make  the  tower  higher.  Oh, 
I  know  what  we  can  have  for  a  net  I"  he  sud- 
denly cried. 


180        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

" What?"  asked  Janet. 

Her  brother  pointed  to  a  clothesline  in  the 
yard,  across  which  were  drying  some  lace 
curtains  that  had  just  been  washed. 

"They'll  be  just  dandy  for  a  circus  net!" 
Teddy  went  on.  ' '  You  can  hold  one  end,  and 
111  hold  the  other.  But  we  won't  make  the 
tower  any  higher  for  a  while.  I'll  get  a  cur- 
tain for  a  net." 

"S'pose  mother  will  mind?"  asked  Janet.( 

"Oh,  no,  I  don't  s'pose  so,"  answered 
Teddy.  "It  won't  hurt  the  curtain.  Jack 
isn't  so  big  that  he'll  tear  it,  and  if  it  gets 
dirty,  an'  maybe  it  will  a  little,  we  can  wash 
it  again.  You  get  Jack  now,  and  I'll  get 
the  curtain.  Then  we'll  make  Jack  climb  up 
to  the  top  of  the  box  tower  and  jump  off." 

"How  you  going  to  get  him  to  go  up?" 
asked  Janet,  when  Ted  came  back  with  his 
mother's  lace  curtain  which  he  had  taken  off 
the  line. 

"I'll  put  a  piece  of  banana  up  there  on  the 
top  box,"  Teddy  answered.  The  pile  of 
boxes,  nailed  together,  was  higher  than  his 
head,  but  he  had  brought  out  the  stepladder 
so  he  could  reach  up  with  that. 

"How  you  going  to  get  Jack  to  jump  down 
into  the  lace  curtain  net?"  Janet  went  on. 


181 


"111  hold  out  another  piece  of  banana," 
Teddy  replied.  "Come  on  here,  Jack,  and 
learn  a  new  trick !"  he  called  to  the  monkey. 

But  just  then  both  Teddy  and  Janet  saw 
a  sight  that  made  them  cry  out  in  surprise. 
And  the  sight  was  that  of  Trouble,  coming 
around  the  corner  of  the  barn,  driving  be- 
fore him  Turnover  and  Skyrocket,  the  first 
cat  and  dog  pets  the  Curlytops  had  ever 
owned.  But  Turnover  and  Skyrocket  had 
never  looked  so  funny  as  they  did  now,  with 
Trouble  urging  them  on  and  crying : 

"I  dot  a  new  twick!  I  dot  a  new  twick! 
Look  what  me  make  Turn  an'  Sky  do!" 


CHAPTER  XV 

PLANNING  THE  CIRCUS 

"WELL,  look  what  that  little  tyke  has 
done!"  cried  Teddy,  with  a  laugh. 

"All  by  himself,  too!"  added  Janet. 
"How  did  he  ever  think  of  it?" 

"And  how  he  got  Turnover  and  Skyrocket 
to  stand  still  long  enough  to  be  harnessed  up 
is  a  wonder!"  said  Teddy. 

For  that  is  what  baby  William  had  done. 
With  bits  of  string,  straps  and  strips  torn 
from  some  pieces  of  cloth  he  had  found  in 
the  barn,  he  had  made  a  crazy  jumble  of  a 
harness  for  the  dog  and  the  cat.  They  were- 
tied  and  fastened  together. 

But  this  was  not  all.  Besides  harnessing 
the  dog  and  cat  together,  like  a  team  made 
up  of  a  big  horse  and  a  little  pony,  Trouble 
had  made  the  two  pets  fast  to  a  small  express 
wagon  that  he  claimed  as  his  very  own, 
though  it  had  once  belonged  to  Teddy. 

182 


Planning  the  Circus  183 

"And  look  what  he  has  in  the  wagon!" 
cried  Janet,  now  laughing  as  heartily  as  was 
Teddy.  " My  old  rag  doll— Miss  Muffin!" 

In  her  earlier  days  Janet  had  a  large  rag 
doll,  which  had  been  named  Miss  Muffin,  just 
why  no  one  knew.  But  as  she  grew  older 
and  had  other  dolls,  and  finally  had  come  to 
play  more  with  her  brother  and  the  pets  than 
with  such  toys,  Janet  had  forgotten  all  about 
Miss  Muffin.  So  the  rag  doll  had  been  tossed 
here  and  there,  sometimes  in  one  corner  and 
sometimes  in  another,  getting  more  ragged, 
torn  and  dirty  as  the  weeks  went  by. 

But  Baby  William  had  found  this  old  doll 
and  had  tied  it  to  the  little  seat  in  his  express 
wagon.  And  there  sat  Miss  Muffin,  one  eye 
partly  scratched  off  her  painted  cloth  face, 
and  the  other  eye,  by  some  accident,  skewed 
around  until  it  was  standing  up  and  down, 
and  did  not  lie  sideways  as  most  eyes  do. 

"I  give  Miss  Muffin  a  wide,"  announced 
Trouble.  ' l  She  'ike  it,  an'  maybe  it 's  a  twick 
for  de  circus!" 

Teddy  and  Janet  looked  at  one  another 
and  then  they  both  laughed. 

"Say,  it  would  be  a  good  trick!"  said 
Teddy  at  length.  "We  could  dress  Trouble 
up  funny  like,  and  have  him  come  in  driving 


184        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

Turnover  and  Skyrocket.  The  people  would 
clap  like  anything. " 

"I  believe  they  would,"  agreed  Janet. 
"Did  Turnover  scratch  you  when  you  tied 
all  those  strings  on,  Trouble  ?"  she  asked  her 
little  brother. 

"Nope !  Turn,  he  'ike  it,"  declared  Baby 
William.  "An'  Sky,  he  put  hims  tongue  on 
my  hands  and  'ick  me." 

"I  guess  he  wouldn't  have  much  trouble 
with  Skyrocket,"  said  Teddy.  "I've  har- 
nessed the  dog  to  little  carts  before.  But  T 
never  hitched  the  dog  and  cat  together.  You 
made  a  fine  trick  there,  Trouble." 

"I  be  in  circus*?"  asked  the  little  fellow. 

"Sure  you  may  be  in  the  circus,"  said 
Janet.  1 1  It  will  be  one  of  the  best  acts.  And. 
we  can  tie  ribbons  on  the  necks  of  Sky  and 
Turn,  as  Trouble  calls  them,  to  make  it  look 
prettier.  Go  on,  Trouble,"  she  said  to  her 
little  brother,  "let's  see  you  drive  'em  around 
the  yard.  Maybe  they'll  break  away,  or  get 
all  tangled  up,  and  then  it  wouldn't  be  a 
good  act  for  our  show,"  she  said  to  Teddy. 

But  Trouble  seemed  to  have  charmed  Sky- 
rocket and  Turnover  to  do  just  what  he 
wanted  them  to  do,  and  they  walked  slowly 


Planning  the  Circus  185 

around  the  paths  in  the  yard,  giving  Miss 
Muffin  a  fine  ride. 

" Don't  keep  'em  hitched  up  too  long, 
Trouble, ' '  advised  Janet.  ' '  If  you  do  they  '11 
get  tired,  and  won't  like  it  next  time." 

"I  undwess  'em  now,"  said  the  little  boy. 
By  " undressing"  he  meant  taking  the  string 
and  strap  harness  off  the  dog  and  cat. 

Turnover  and  Skyrocket  seemed  very  glad 
to  be  set  free,  and  they  ran  off  together,  while 
Trouble  stayed  with  his  brother  and  sister, 
as  they  had  told  him  they  were  going  to  make 
Jack  do  a  trick  now. 

It  was  time  to  see  if  they  could  get  the 
monkey  to  do  what  was  wanted  of  him.  The 
tower  of  boxes  had  been  built,  and  Teddy 
had  two  bananas,  one  to  get  Jack  to  climb  up 
on  top  of  the  pile,  and  another  yellow  fruit 
to  induce  the  monkey  to  leap  down.  The  lace 
curtain  net  had  also  been  provided. 

"Now,  Jack,  we'll  see  what  good  you  are," 
said  Teddy,  as  he  climbed  up  on  the  step- 
ladder  and  placed  the  banana  on  the  top- 
most box,  letting  part  of  the  fruit  stick  out 
over  the  edge. 

"Here,  Jack !"  called  Teddy,  standing  half 
way  up  the  ladder.  "Come  on  and  do  your 
trick!" 


186        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

The  monkey  chattered  a  little,  but  came 
to  Teddy,  who  picked  the  fuzzy  creature  up 
in  his  arms.  Holding  Jack  up,  Teddy 
showed  him  the  banana  on  top  of  the  pile 
of  boxes. 

With  another  chatter,  Jack  scrambled  out 
of  Teddy's  arms,  and  with  the  usual  quick- 
ness of  monkeys,  was  soon  on  top  of  the  pile 
of  boxes — the  "tower"  as  Ted  and  Jan  called 
it.  When  they  gave  their  circus  they 
planned  to  cover  the  pile  of  boxes  with  green 
boughs  and  pretend  it  was  a  big  tree  in  the 
jungle. 

"Oh,  see!"  cried  Janet  in  delight,  as  she 
saw  Jack  on  top  of  the  pile,  eating  the 
banana  he  found  there.  "He's  done  the 
first  part  of  the  trick  all  right,  Teddy!" 

"Yes,  and  if  he  does  the  last  part  as  well 
it  will  be  fine!"  declared  the  little  Curlytop 
boy.  "But  the  last  is  the  hardest  part.  Jack 
may  want  to  climb  down  instead  of  jumping. 
But  first  we'll  let  him  eat  the  banana,  and 
get  hungry  for  the  second  one." 

So  the  three  children  stood  on  the  ground, 
and  watched  Jack,  up  on  the  tower,  eating 
his  banana.  The  monkey  looked  down,  mak- 
ing funny  faces,  which  he  seemed  to  be  doing 
most  of  the  time,  and  Trouble  laughed. 


Planning  the  Circus  187 

"He  is  funny!"  laughed  Janet.  "I'm 
sure  the  people  who  come  to  our  circus  will 
like  Jack." 

"They'll  like  him  a  lot  more  if  he  does 
tricks,"  said  Teddy.  "Come  on,  Jan,"  he 
called,  after  a  while.  "We'll  get  the  net 
ready  now.  I  guess  it's  time  he  jumped  for 
the  other  banana." 

Mrs.  Martin  had  not  seen  the  Curlytops 
take  her  lace  curtain  off  the  line  to  use  for 
a  circus  net.  If  she  had,  she  would,  of  course, 
have  stopped  them.  But  Teddy  and  Janet 
did  not  think  they  were  doing  anything  very 
wrong.  As  for  Trouble,  he  never  bothered 
his  head  about  it.  Whatever  Ted  or  Janet 
did  was  all  right  to  him. 

"If  we  each  have  to  hold  one  end  of  the 
curtain  net,  how  are  we  going  to  hold  out 
the  banana  so  Jack  will  see  it?"  asked  Janet 
of  her  older  brother. 

"We'll  lay  the  banana  in  the  middle  of  the 
net,"  decided  Ted. 

This  was  done,  and  when  the  curtain  was 
held  stretched  as  tightly  as  Janet  and  Teddy 
could  pull  it,  as  they  had  once  seen  the  Cresco 
firemen  stretch  out  a  life-net  in  a  practice 
drill,  the  banana  was  placed  in  the  center. 

"Come  on  now,  Jackl     Jump  down!" 


188        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

called  Teddy.  "Jump  down  and  get  your 
other  banana!" 

Jack  chattered,  but  did  not  jump.  He 
clung  to  the  edge  of  the  tower  of  boxes,  made 
two  or  three  motions  as  if  he  were  coming 
down,  but  he  did  not  descend. 

"I  guess  he  doesn't  see  the  banana,"  re- 
marked Janet.  "One  of  us  ought  to  hold  it 
up." 

"We  can't,  and  hold  the  net  too,"  Teddy 
declared.  "And  if  we  don't  hold  the  net, 
and  Jack  jumps,  he  may  hurt  himself,  and 
then  he  can't  be  in  the  show." 

"Oh,  I  know  what  we  can  do!"  Janet  de- 
clared. 

"What?"  asked  Teddy. 

"We  can  have  Trouble  hold  the  banana! 
Let  him  stand  right  near  the  outside  edge: 
of  the  net,  near  the  middle,  and  hold  up  the 
banana.  Then  Jack  will  see  it  and  jump." 

"That  is  a  good  idea,"  remarked  Teddy. 
"He  was  always  willing  to  give  his  sister 
credit  for  thinking  of  things  to  do.  "Come 
on,  Trouble,"  called  Teddy  to  his  brother. 
"Hold  the  banana  up  for  Jack!" 

"Eess,  me  do  dat !"  replied  Baby  William, 
so  excited  he  could  hardly  talk  at  all,  much 
less  talk  properly. 


Planning  the  Circus  189 

Eager  to  do  his  share  in  getting  ready  f  or} 
the  circus,  Trouble  held  the  banana  up  as 
high  as  he  could  reach,  so  that  Jack  could 
see  it.  And  this  time  the  monkey  caught 
sight  of  the  fruit. 

With  a  chatter  of  delight  at  the  good 
things  he  was  getting  to  eat,  Jack  came  down, 
but  not  exactly  in  the  way  Janet  and  Teddy 
wanted  him  to.  For  the  pet  climbed  down! 
the  boxes,  which  were  of  different  sizes,  mak- 
ing many  places  where  he  could  hold  on  by 
his  hands  and  tail.  He  didn't  jump  at  all ! 

With  a  chatter  and  a  scramble,  Jack 
reached  the  ground,  ran  around  the  net  to 
where  Trouble  stood,  and  then  just  reached) 
up,  plucked  the  fruit  from  the  little  chap's 
hand  and  began  to  eat  it.  And  it  was  all 
done  so  quickly  that  Ted  and  Janet  hardly 
had  time  to  say  a  word. 

Finally,  however,  after  laughing  at  the 
funny  look  on  Trouble's  face  when  he  saw 
the  monkey  snatch  away  the  banana,  Teddy 
said: 

"Oh,  Jack!  I  didn't  mean  for  you  to 
come  down  that  way !  I  wanted  you  to  jump 
into  the  net!  Here,  you  can't  have  the  rest 
of  that  banana  until  you  jump  for  it." 

Teddy  took  the  fruit  away  from  his  fuzzy 


190        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

pet,  and  Jack  jabbered  and  chattered  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  for  he  did  not  like  this  at 
all.  To  have  a  banana  taken  away  when  he 
was  just  half  finished  with  it!  That  didn't 
seem  fair  I 

"Come  on!  We'll  try  again,  Jan,"  said 
Teddy,  holding  the  half-eaten  yellow  fruit 
out  of  Jack's  reach.  For  the  monkey  was 
jumping  up  trying  to  get  back  the  banana. 

"You'll  have  to  get  him  up  on  top  of  the 
boxes  again,"  Janet  said. 

"Yes,  and  I  guess  I'll  have  to  break  off  a 
piece  of  this  banana  to  get  him  to  go  up  after 
it, ' '  her  brother  said.  ' l  Come  on,  Jack ! "  he 
cried. 

Breaking  what  was  left  of  the  banana  in 
half,  Teddy  once  more  climbed  the  step  lad- 
der and  put  the  pulpy  mass  on  top  of  the 
pile  of  boxes.  Jack  saw  what  was  done,  and 
in  an  instant  he  had  climbed  up. 

"He's  learning  to  go  up  fine!"  declared 
Teddy,  as  he  got  down  and  moved  the  ladder 
away,  so  Jack  would  not  use  that  in  his 
descent.  "If  we  can  only  make  him  jump 
now.  Get  ready,  Trouble,  to  hold  up  the 
banana  again." 

"There  isn't  much  left  of  it,"  Janet  re- 
marked. 


Planning  the  Circus  191 

"It's  all  there  is  until  we  go  to  the  store 
for  more,"  answered  Teddy.  "I  guess  it 
will  do.  We'll  wait  until  he  swallows  what 
he's  eating  now,  and  then  Trouble  can  hold 
up  what  is  left." 

Anxiously  the  Curlytops  and  their  little 
brother  watched  Jack  perched  rather  high 
on  the  tower  of  boxes.  The  monkey  made 
short  work  of  the  small  piece  of  banana  that 
had  been  put  on  his  high  perch.  Then  he 
looked  down  for  more. 

"Hold  it  up,  Trouble !  Hold  it  up  I"  cried 
Teddy,  at  one  end  of  the  curtain  net,  while 
Janet  held  the  other  end. 

"I  hold  it,  but  my  hoots  is  gettin'  tired," 
said  the  little  fellow. 

1 '  Never  mind,  dear, ' '  consoled  Janet.  ' '  If 
Jack  doesn't  jump  this  time  well  let  you 
go.  We  can  put  a  stick  in  the  ground  near 
the  edge  of  the  net,  and  tie  the  banana  to 
that  if  Trouble  is  tired,"  she  said  to  Teddy. 

"Yes,  but  it  won't  be  so  good  as  Trouble, 
'cause  Jack  likes  him,"  Teddy  answered. 
"Look  out!  I  think  he's  going  to  jump!" 

And  that  is  just  what  Jack  did ! 

With  a  chatter  of  delight  as  he  saw 
Trouble  holding  up  the  piece  of  fruit,  Jack 


192        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

stood  for  a  moment  on  the  edge  of  the  pile 
of  boxes,  and  then  he  leaped. 

Straight  down  he  jumped  toward  the  lace 
curtain  and  toward  Trouble,  who  held  up 
the  banana.  But  before  the  monkey  landed 
there  was  a  scream  from  the  house,  and  Mrs. 
Martin  came  running  out. 

" Don't  let  Jack  jump  into  my  lace  cur- 
tain! Don't  do  it,  Curlytops!"  exclaimed 
their  mother.  i  l  He  '11  tear  it  to  pieces.  Stop 
him!" 

But  it  was  too  late.    Jack  had  jumped  I 


CHAPTER  XVI 

TOP  IS  GONE 

MRS.  MARTIN  ran  as  fast  as  she  could  from 
the  back  door  of  the  house  to  that  part  of 
the  yard  where  the  Curlytops  and  Trouble 
were  planning  and  practicing  the  new  circus 
trick.  Ted  and  Janet  heard  their  mother's 
cry,  and,  for  the  first  time,  realized  that  per-i 
haps  they  had  done  wrong  in  taking  the  lace 
curtain  for  a  net. 

And  by  the  time  Mrs.  Martin  reached  the 
place  where  Trouble  was  standing,  Jack  had 
jumped  into  the  curtain.  Right  into  the 
middle  of  it  he  landed,  and  you  can  guess 
what  happened. 

Yes,  Jack  tore  through,  making  a  big  hole 
in  the  lace.  For  it  was  not  strong  enough 
for  even  a  play  circus  net,  and,  really,  Ted 
and  Janet  should  have  known  this. 

Down  through  the  hole  in  the  curtain  fell 
Jack,  but  he  did  not  go  quite  all  the  wayi 

193 


194        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

through.  That  is  parts  of  the  torn  lace  clung 
to  him. 

In  another  instant,  after  landing  lightly 
on  the  ground,  Jack  sprang  up,  grabbed  thei 
banana  away  from  Trouble,  and  then  made 
a  flying  leap  for  the  nearest  tree,  trailing 
the  lace  curtain  after  him,  dragging  it  on 
the  ground,  catching  it  on  the  branches  of 
the  tree  and  tearing  it  worse  than  ever. 

So  suddenly  did  Jack  snatch  the  piece  of 
banana  away  from  Baby  William  that  the 
little  fellow  was  knocked  down,  just  as  Jack, 
leaping  away  from  the  Italian  hand-organ 
man,  had  knocked  Teddy  to  the  sidewalk. 

1 « Oh !  Oh ! "  wailed  Trouble,  and  then  he 
began  to  cry. 

" Oh,  Curlytops!  Curlytops!  What  have 
you  done?"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Martin  in  dis- 
may. 

Teddy  and  Janet  could  not  say  a  word. 
They  seemed  frightened  and  dazed  when 
Jack,  in  his  wild  leap,  pulled  the  curtain 
from  their  grasp. 

"We — we "  began  Janet. 

"Didn't  mean  to,"  finished  Teddy. 

And  then  Jack  began  to  chatter  as  he  tried- 
to  tear  loose  the  lace  curtain  which  was 
tangled  all  about  him  as  he  sat  perched  in  a 


Top  Is  Gone 195 

tree,  licking  from  his  paws  some  bits  of 
crushed  banana. 

With  the  crying  of  Trouble,  the  chatter  of 
the  monkey,  and  Mrs.  Martin  saying:  "Oh 
dear !  Oh  dear ! ' '  again  and  again,  there  was 
quite  a  little  excitement  in  the  yard  of  the 
Curlytops  just  then. 

"Poor  Trouble!"  sighed  Janet,  as  she 
walked  over  to  her  little  brother,  who  was 
crying  and  sitting  on  the  ground  where  Jack 
had  knocked  him.  "Did  the  monkey  scratch 
you?" 

But  Trouble  was  sobbing  too  hard  to  an- 
swer. 

"What  in  the  world  were  you  doing?" 
asked  Mrs.  Martin,  as  she  picked  Trouble  up 
in  her  arms,  and  finally  made  him  stop  cry- 
ing. "Why  did  you  take  one  of  my  nice  cur- 
tains?" 

"We  didn't  know  it  was  nice,"  Teddy  an- 
swered. "And  we  had  to  get  something  for 
a  net  to  have  Jack  jump  in.  I  thought  it 
was  an  old  curtain." 

"It  wasn't  one  of  my  best  ones,"  said  his 
mother,  "still  I  didn't  want  it  torn.  And  it 
is  of  no  use  now.  Look!  All  in  shreds !" 

Indeed  that  was  the  state  of  the  curtain. 
For  by  this  time  Jack  had  managed  to  tear 


196        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

it  off!  him,  and  it  dangled  in  the  tree  like  the 
tail  of  a  broken  kite. 

"It  will  be  good  for  dolls'  dresses,"  said 
Janet.  "And  we  can  make  other  things  to 
dress  the  animals  up  in  for  the  circus." 

"Oh,  you  Curlytops!"  cried  Mrs.  Martin, 
trying  not  to  laugh,  for  it  was  all  rather  fun- 
ny in  spite  of  the  fact  that  one  of  her  cur- 
tains was  ruined.  "However,  it  can't  be 
helped,"  she  went  on.  "Only,  next  time, 
come  and  ask  me  when  you  want  a  circus 
net." 

"We  will,"  promised  Teddy.  "But,  any- 
how, I  guess  we  have  taught  Jack  his  new 
trick.  He  jumped  like  anything,  and  from 
the  top  of  the  tower,  when  he  saw  the 
banana." 

"Oh,  doesn't  he  look  funny  now!"  cried 
Janet,  pointing  to  the  monkey,  that  was  now 
sitting  on  a  box  and  looking  at  the  children 
and  their  mother.  ' '  He 's  got  a  lace  frill  on. ' ' 

Part  of  the  torn  lace  curtain  was  around 
Jack's  neck,  making  him,  indeed,  look  as 
though  he  wore  a  fancy  collar. 

"Him's  got  a  bib  on!"  declared  Trouble, 
now  over  his  fright  and  crying  spell,  the  first 
having  caused  the  second.  "Him's  got  a  bib 


Top  Is  Gone 197 

on  'ike  Trouble  when  him  eats  bread  and 
'ilk." 

"So  he  has,  dear!"  laughed  Mrs.  Martin. 
"And  I  guess  Jack  would  rather  be  eating 
bread  and  milk  than  doing  tricks  in  this  pet 
show." 

i  i  Oh,  no !  He  likes  the  circus !  Or  he  will 
when  we  get  it  started,"  declared  Teddy. 
"We've  got  lots  to  do  yet,  but  I  guess  we 
can  have  it  in  about  two  weeks.  We'll  get 
Jack  to  practice  his  jump  some  more." 

"Then  well  need  more  bananas — he  ate 
the  last  one,"  remarked  Janet.  "And  Mr. 
Xip  likes  them,  too." 

"We'll  get  more,  but  we  won't  make  Jack 
do  any  more  tricks  to-day,  Jan,"  decided 
Teddy.  "Animals  get  cross  if  you  keep  'em 
at  their  tricks  too  long." 

"And  I  think  111  take  Trouble  into  the 
house.  He 's  had  enough  excitement  for  the 
day,"  said  Mrs.  Martin.  "Don't  take  any 
more  of  my  laee  curtains,"  she  added,  as  she 
moved  toward  the  house. 

"We  won't,"  promised  the  Curlytops. 
Then  they  pulled  from  the  tree,  where  Jack 
had  torn  his  way  out  of  it,  the  remainder  of 
the  lace  curtain  they  had  used  for  a  landing 
net  for  the  pet  monkey. 


198        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

It  was  two  or  three  days  after  this,  during 
which  time  the  Curlytops  had  taught  their 
pets  several  new  little  tricks,  that  their 
mother  called  Janet  and  Teddy  to  her  one 
afternoon.  Mrs.  Martin  held  a  letter  in  her 
hand,  the  postman  having  just  left  it  for  her. 

"Here  is  something  I  want  to  talk  to  you 
children  about,"  said  their  mother. 

"Oh,  is  that  a  letter  from  Uncle  Toby,  and 
is  he  coming  back  to  take  his  pets  away  be- 
fore weVe  had  the  show?"  asked  Janet. 

"No,  indeed,"  answered  her  mother,  with 
a  laugh.  "We  haven't  heard  from  Uncle 
Toby  since  he  left  for  South  America.  I 
suppose,  by  this  time,  he  is  sitting  in  the 
jungle,  watching  hundreds  of  parrots  and 
monkeys." 

"I  wish  he'd  send  some  more  to  us!"  said 
Teddy. 

"Oh,  gracious  sakesl  I  don't!"  laughed 
Mrs.  Martin.  "I  think  we  have  quite  enough 
pets  as  it  is." 

But  of  course  the  Curlytops  did  not  think 
so. 

"What  I  called  you  for,"  went  on  Mrs. 
Martin,  "was  to  ask  if  you  really  intend  to 
go  on  with  this  circus  of  yours.  Do  you 
really  intend  holding  it?" 


Top  Is  Gone 199 

"Sure  we  do,  Mother!"  Teddy  answered. 
"We're  going  to  have  a  tent,  and  seats  and 
everything." 

"Are  you  going  to  charge  money  for  per- 
sons to  come  in'?" 

"Yes,"  said  Janet.  "It's  to  be  five  cents 
for  big  boys  and  girls,  and  three  cents  for 
little  ones  like  Trouble.  Of  course  Trouble 
won't  have  to  pay,  'cause  he's  going  to  be 
part  of  the  show.  But  what  is  your  letter 
about,  Mother?" 

"It's  about  your  circus,"  was  the  answer. 
"At  least  now  that  I  know  you  are  really 
going  on  with  the  performance  this  letter 
will  have  something  to  do  with  it.  This  is  a 
note  from  some  ladies  who,  like  me,  belong 
to  a  charitable  society,"  said  Mrs.  Martin. 
"The  secretary  has  just  written  me,  asking 
if  I  can  not  think  up  some  plan  to  raise 
money  so  some  poor  orphan  children  may  be 
sent  to  the  country  to  board  for  a  few  weeks 
this  summer." 

"Oh,  can't  we  help  the  orphan  children,  as 
we  helped  the  crippled  children  once?" 
asked  Teddy. 

"Just  what  I  was  going  to  say,"  went  on 
his  mother.  "You  may  take  in  quite  a  few 
dollars  giving  your  animal  show,  and  I  can 


200        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

think  of  no  better  way  of  spending  it  than 
to  give  it  to  the  orphans.  Besides,  if  it  is 
known  that  the  circus  is  for  charity,  many 
more  people  will  come  than  would  otherwise. 
So  do  you  Curlytops  want  to  help  the  or-| 
phans?" 

"Of  course!"  said  Janet. 

"Sure!"  cried  Teddy. 

"Me  help,  too!  What  is  it?"  asked 
Trouble,  coming  up  just  then. 

"Oh,  you're  going  to  help  all  right!" 
laughed  Janet.  "You're  going  to  drive 
Turnover  and  Skyrocket  with  my  old  rag 
doll,  Miss  Muffin,  in  the  express  wagon,  and 
I'm  sure  you'll  be  so  darling  and  funny  that 
everyone  will  laugh." 

"And  I  hope  Jack  does  his  jumping 
trick,"  said  Teddy.  "It  would  be  great  if 
we  had  Tip  and  Top  to  perform  together. 
We  could  charge  twenty-five  cents  for  big 
people  to  come  in  if  we  had  the  two  trick 
dogs." 

"Well,  one  is  better  than  none,"  said' 
Janet.  "It's  a  good  thing  we  have  Top." 

"Yes,"  agreed  Teddy,  "I  suppose  it  is. 
But  I  wonder  where  Tip  can  be  ?" 

But  of  course  no  one  could  tell  him  that. 

So  it  was  settled  that  the  money  that  was 


^ Top  Is  Gone 201 

taken  in  for  the  show  of  the  Curlytops  and 
their  pets  should  go  to  the  orphans,  so  they 
might  have  a  few  weeks  in  the  green  country 
during  the  hot  summer. 

The  Curlytops  were  much  excited  that 
evening,  telling  their  father  about  the  per- 
formance for  the  orphans,  and  Mr.  Martin 
agreed  that  no  better  use  could  be  made  of 
the  money. 

"You  must  take  good  care  of  your  pets 
from  now  until  the  time  of  the  show,"  he 
said.  "Don't  let  them  get  away  or  become 
ill,  or  you  will  not  be  able  to  give  a  good  cir- 


cus/ 


"Let's  go  out  to  the  barn  now,  and  see  if 
they  are  all  right,"  proposed  Janet. 

"All  right,"  agreed  Teddy. 

It  was  early  evening,  and  light  enough  to 
see  in  the  barn.  Top  and  Skyrocket  barked 
a  welcome,  Snuff  and  Turnover  mewed  their 
delight  at  seeing  the  children,  and  while  Mr. 
Nip  shrieked  away  about  being  a  "crack- 
crack-cracker"  Jack  chattered.  About  the 
only  quiet  ones  were  the  white  rats  and  mice, 
and  Slider,  the  alligator. 

"They're  all  right,  and  ready  for  the  cir- 
cus," said  Teddy  as  he  came  out  and  locked 
the  door  after  him. 


202        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"Yes,  I  can  hardly  wait!"  murmured 
Janet. 

But  in  the  morning  there  was  bad  news 
for  the  Curlytops.  Their  mother,  who  had 
gone  out  to  the  barn  to  open  the  door  for 
the  animals,  came  hurrying  back  to  the  house 
as  Teddy  and  Janet  descended  for  their 
breakfast. 

"Where  is  Top?"  asked  Mrs.  Martin. 

"Top!"  exclaimed  Teddy.  "Why,  isn't 
he  in  the  barn  with  Sky  and  the  other  pets  ?" 

"No,"  answered  his  mother,  shaking  her 
head.  "Top  is  gone!  The  barn  door  was 
locked,  and  all  the  other  animals  are  there, 
but  Top  is  gone!" 


CHAPTER  XYII 

THE  DOG  SHOW 

TEDDY  and  Janet  looked  at  each  other  in 
sorrow  and  dismay.  It  seemed  that  the 
worst  had  happened — Top  missing  just  when 
they  were  getting  ready  for  the  show !  First 
Tip  was  gone,  and  now  Top!  Could  it  be 
true? 

"Are  you  sure,  Mother?"  asked  Teddy. 
"Maybe  Top  is  hiding  behind  a  box  or  some- 
thing." 

"Let's  go  look!"  proposed  Janet. 

"Oh,  I'm  sure  he  isn't  there,"  said  Mrs. 
Martin.  "I  called  him,  as  I  always  do,  when 
I  go  to  let  him  and  Skyrocket  out.  But  Top 
did  not  come." 

"Did  Skyrocket?"  asked  Janet. 

"Yes,  he  came  rushing  out  of  his  kennel, 
barking  and  wagging  his  tail  as  if  he  would 
wag  it  off.  And  Snuff  came  out,  and  so  did 
Turnover.  But  there  was  no  Top." 

203 


204        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

Teddy  started  for  the  barn  on  the  run,  and 
so  did  Janet.  Their  mother  followed  more 
slowly.  She  felt  very  sorry  for  her  Curly- 
tops,  as  she  knew  they  would  be  very  sad 
over  the  loss  of  their  second  pet  dog. 

"The  barn  door  is  locked!"  said  Teddy, 
as  he  reached  it  and  tried  to  go  in. 

"Yes,  I  locked  it  after  me  when  I  came 
out,"  his  mother  said.  "I  wanted  to  make 
sure  that  none  of  the  other  pets  would  get 
away.  But  the  door  was  locked  when  I  first 
went  in  this  morning.  It  was  locked  just  as 
you  left  it  last  night." 

"Then  I  don't  see  how  Top  could  have 
gotten  out,"  Janet  said. 

"Unless  there  is  some  other  place  open 
in  the  barn — like  a  window,"  Mrs.  Martin 
suggested. 

"Let's  look!"  cried  Teddy. 

His  mother  turned  the  key  in  the  padlock 
on  the  outside  of  the  barn  door.  As  the  door 
opened  and  the  Curlytops  went  in,  they 
were  greeted  by  barks  of  welcome  from  Sky- 
rocket, by  mews  from  Snuff  and  Turnover, 
the  cats,  by  chattering  from  Mr.  Jack,  the 
monkey,  and  by  shrill  cries  from  Mr.  Nip, 
the  parrot,  who  called  as  loudly  as  he  could: 

"I'm  a  crack-crack-cracker!" 


The  Dog  Show 205 

"They're  all  here  but  Top,"  said  Mrs. 
Martin.  And  as  the  Curlytops  looked 
around  the  barn  they  saw  that  this  was  so. 
Top  was  not  in  sight. 

"Here,  Top!  Top!  Top!"  called  Teddy, 
and  he  whistled.  Mr.  Mp  also  whistled,  as 
loudly  and  clearly  as  the  little  boy  himself. 
But  there  was  no  answer  from  his  pet  trick 
dog. 

Janet  ran  over  and  looked  in  the  box  where 
Top  always  slept  on  a  piece  of  carpet.  The 
box  was  empty. 

"Where  do  you  s'pose  he  can  be?"  she 
asked  her  mother. 

"That's  what  we  must  find  out,"  was  Mrs. 
Martin's  answer.  "We  must  look  all 
through  the  barn.  There  are  several  places 
where  he  may  have  gotten  out — or  been 
taken  out,"  she  added  a  moment  later. 

It  was  Teddy  who  finally  discovered  the 
open  window  by  which  it  was  thought  some- 
one had  entered  the  barn  and  taken  Top  out. 
The  window  was  near  the  stalls  used  by  the 
horses  before  Mr.  Martin  bought  an  auto- 
mobile. In  a  corner,  at  the  left  of  the  stalls 
and  too  high  from  the  floor  of  the  barn  for 
Top  to  have  reached,  even  in  his  best  jump, 
was  a  swinging  window.  This  was  open,  as 


206        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

Teddy  found,  and  when  his  mother  and 
Janet  came  at  his  call,  Mrs.  Martin  saw  that 
the  bolt  had  been  broken. 

"That  is  how  it  happened,"  she  said. 
"Someone  opened  that  window  from  the  out- 
side last  night,  crawled  in,  and  took  Top 
away.  The  dog  himself  could  not  have  got- 
ten out  of  that  high  window.  Someone  must 
have  taken  him." 

"But  wouldn't  he  bark  and  bite  them?'3" 
asked  Janet. 

"Top  was  too  friendly  to  bite  anyone  un- 
less they  harmed  him,"  said  her  mother. 
"And  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  this  man — it 
must  have  been  a  man  or  a  big  boy — knew 
how  to  be  nice  to  Top.  Maybe  they  gave  him 
a  little  piece  of  meat  to  chew  on  while  they 
took  him  away." 

' '  Oh  dear  1 ' '  sighed  Janet.  ' ' How  shall  we 
ever  get  him  back?" 

"I'll  call  your  father,  and  ask  him  what 
to  do,"  remarked  Mrs.  Martin.  "This  is 
getting  serious!  Two  of  Uncle  Toby's  best 
pets  gone !  If  he  comes  back  he  will  think 
we  did  not  take  very  good  care  of  his  ani- 
mals." 

"It  wasn't  our  fault  that  a  burglar  came 
and  took  Top,"  said  Teddy. 


The  Dog  Show 207 

"No,  dear/'  answered  his  mother.  "But 
we  must  do  what  we  can  to  get  the  dog  back.j 
111  call  your  father." 

Mr.  Martin  came  quickly  when  he  heard 
what  had  happened.  He  went  to  the  barn 
to  look,  and  he  agreed  with  his  wife  that, 
during  the  night,  someone  had  broken  open 
the  barn  window,  had  crawled  in,  and  had. 
taken  out  Top. 

"But  why  didn't  they  take  Jack  or  Mr. 
Nip  or  Slider  f  asked  Teddy.  "All  our 
pets  are  nice.  Why  didn  't  they  take  more  ? ' ' 

"Maybe  they  didn't  have  time,  or  perhaps 
they  were  frightened  away,  or  they  may  have 
wanted  only  Top,"  said  Mr.  Martin.  "I 
think  that  last  is  the  real  reason.  A  trick 
poodle,  like  Top,  is  valuable.  And  if  he  could 
be  placed  in  a  show  with  his  chum  Tip,  the 
two  would  earn  a  lot  of  money  for  whoever 
had  them." 

"Then,"  said  Teddy,  "we've  got  to  find 
out  who  has  Tip,  and  maybe  then  we'll  get 
back  Top." 

"Yes,"  agreed  his  father,  "but  it  isn't  go- 
ing to  be  easy.  111  report  it  to  the  police  and 
also  to  the  police  of  that  town  where  Tip 
was  taken." 


208        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"We  can't  have  much  of  a  show  with  Tip 
and  Top  gone,"  said  Janet  sadly. 

"Well,  not  so  very,"  answered  Teddy,  try- 
ing to  make  the  best  of  it.  "But  if  we  don't 
get  Top  back  we  still  have  some  pets  left. 
The  only  thing  is  that  Skyrocket  has  learned 
to  do  some  tricks  with  Top,  and  if  Top 
doesn't  come  back  Sky  can't  do  those  tricks. 
Oh  dear,  I  wish  I  knew  who  had  our  two 
trick  poodles!" 

"So  do  II"  chimed  in  Janet. 

Mr.  Martin  called  up  the  Cresco  police  and 
told  them  of  the  theft.  Word  was  also  sent 
to  the  town  where  the  Curlytops  had  stopped 
for  lunch  the  day  they  had  brought  home 
Uncle  Toby's  pets,  when  "Shorty"  had  been 
left  on  guard. 

After  that  there  was  nothing  to  do  but 
wait,  though  Ted  and  Jan  wanted  to  go 
around  among  their  friends,  asking  if,  by 
chance,  any  of  them  had  seen  Top.  And 
after  breakfast  their  mother  allowed  them  to 
do  this. 

To  house  after  house  of  their  friends  and 
neighbors  went  the  two  Curlytops,  telling 
the  story  of  the  theft  of  Top,  and  asking  if 
anyone  had  seen  him.  But  it  was  a  hopeless 
search,  as  Mrs.  Martin  knew  it  would  be. 


The  Dog  Show 209 

For  whoever  had  taken  Top,  she  felt  sure, 
would  hide  him  away,  and  not  let  him  be 
seen  in  or  about  Cresco,  where  the  pet  animal 
was  well  known. 

" What's  the  matter,  Curlytops?"  asked 
Policeman  Cassidy,  as  he  saw  Teddy  and 
Janet  going  along  the  street  one  day,  having 
called  at  several  houses,  without  getting  any 
word  about  Top.  "What's  the  matter? 
Can't  you  have  the  circus  you  were  counting 
on?" 

"We  can't  have  it  as  nice  as  we  want  it 
with  Top  gone,"  answered  Teddy,  and  then 
he  explained  about  the  theft,  of  which  the 
policeman  had  not  heard,  having  been  away 
on  his  vacation. 

"We've  been  looking  all  over  for  Top," 
added  Janet,  when  her  brother  had  finished, 
"but  we  can't  find  him." 

"You  aren't  looking  in  the  right  places," 
said  the  policeman.  "You  won't  find  him  at 
the  houses  of  any  of  your  friends.  If  he  was 
there  he'd  run  back  to  you  as  soon  as  he  got 
outside.  Where  you  want  to  look  is  in  some 
dog  show." 

"Dog  show?"  exclaimed  Teddy. 

"  Yes, "  went  on  Mr.  Cassidy.  "I've  heard 
about  stolen  dogs  before.  They  are  taken 


210        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

by  men  who  want  to  make  money.  And  since 
Top  was  a  trick  dog,  as  well  as  Tip,  I'm  sure 
someone  has  them  who  would  put  them  in  a 
show.  So  look  for  a  dog  show,  and  when  you 
find  it  go  in  and  look  at  the  dogs.  That's 
where  you  11  find  Top,  and  maybe  Tip,  too. 
It's  in  a  dog  show  you  should  be  looking!" 

"Yes,"  agreed  Teddy,  after  thinking  the 
matter  over,  "I  guess  we  should.  Thank 
you,  Mr.  Cassidy.  Come  on,  Jan,  we'll  look 
for  a  dog  show.  Do  you  think  there's  one 
in  Cresco,  Mr.  Cassidy?" 

"None  that  I've  heard  of,"  the  officer  an- 
swered. "You'll  see  bill  posters,  and  adver- 
tisements on  the  fences  when  there's  a  dog 
show  around.  Look  for  a  dog  show,  and 
maybe  you'll  find  your  pets." 

The  Curlytops  thanked  him  again,  ancf 
walked  off  down  the  street  together,  filled 
with  a  new  idea.  Eagerly  they  scanned  the 
walls  and  fences,  seeking  for  some  poster 
that  would  tell  of  a  dog  show.  And  it  was 
not  long  before  they  saw  just  what  they  were 
looking  for. 

"See!"  cried  Janet,  pointing  to  a  red  and 
black  poster  on  a  fence.  "That  tells  of  a 
show,  Ted." 


The  Dog  Show 211 

"Yes,"  agreed  her  brother,  "so  it  does. 
But  it's  over  in  Canfield." 

The  advertisement  told  of  "Professor 
Montelli's"  wonderful  collection  of  trained 
and  trick  dogs.  A  show  would  be  given 
every  afternoon  and  evening,  the  bill  said, 
and,  as  Teddy  had  remarked,  it  was  over  in 
the  neighboring  town  of  Canfield. 

"Maybe  Tip  would  be  there,"  suggested 
Janet,  as  she  and  her  brother  looked  at  the 
poster. 

"And  Top,"  added  Ted. 

"  Let  's  go ! "  suddenly  cried  Janet.  "  I  Ve 
got  most  of  my  allowance  that  daddy  gave' 
me.  We  can  go  on  the  trolley.  It  isn  t  far  I ' ' 

Teddy  thought  it  over  for  a  moment. 
Then  he  made  up  his  mind. 

"All  right!"  he  said.  "Let's  go  to  the 
dog  show!" 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  BLACK  POODLES 

ONCE  they  were  in  the  trolley,  going  to 
Canfield,  the  two  Curlytops  felt  quite  happy. 
They  were  happy  for  one  reason,  because 
they  were  having  a  ride.  Teddy  and  Janet 
always  liked  to  be  doing  things  and  going 
somewhere,  and  this  was  one  of  those  times. 

And  they  were  happy  for  another  reason, 
because  they  felt  sure  they  would  find  Top, 
and  perhaps  Tip.  Who  knew? 

Policeman  Cassidy  had  said  the  most 
likely  place  to  find  the  missing  poodles  would 
be  in  a  dog  show.  And  they  were  going  to 
a  dog  show. 

"Do  you  s'pose  mother  will  mind?"  asked 
Janet  of  Ted,  after  they  had  ridden  for  a 
little  way  in  the  trolley. 

"Oh,  I  don't  guess  so,"  he  answered. 
"We'll  soon  be  back,  for  it  isn't  very  far  to 
Canfield,  and  she  said  we  could  go  out  and 
hunt  for  Top." 

212 


The  Black  Poodles 213 

"But  maybe  she  didn't  mean  we  were  to 
go  so  far,  and  on  a  trolley." 

1  'She  didn't  tell  us  not  to!"  declared 
Teddy. 

"All  right,"  went  on  Janet.  "We're  go- 
ing, anyhow." 

"Whereabout  in  Canfield  do  you — you 
Curlytops  want  to  get  out?"  asked  the  trol- 
ley-car conductor. 

"Oh,  do  you  know  us1?"  asked  Janet,  for 
the  conductor  had  called  the  little  boy  and 
girl  by  the  name  so  often  given  them. 

"Well,  I  don't  exactly  know  you,"  he  an- 
swered. "But  I  would  call  you  Curlytops  if 
you  were  my  children.  For  the  tops  of  your 
heads  are  curly,"  he  added  with  a  laugh. 

"Everybody  calls  us  Curlytops,"  said 
Teddy.  "And  could  you  please  let  us  out 
near  the  dog  show?" 

"The  dog  show,"  repeated  the  conductor, 
wonderingly. 

"This  one,"  went  on  Ted,  taking  from  his 
pocket  a  hand  bill  of  "Professor  Montelli's 
Wondrous  Aggregation  of  Canine  Cut-ups." 
Teddy  had  found  the  bill  in  the  street. 

"Oh,  that  show !"  exclaimed  the  conductor, 
with  a  laugh.  "Why,  that's  only  a  little  side- 
show in  a  tent  near  where  this  car  runs.  1 11 


214        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

let  you  get  off  there  if  you  want  to,  but  it 
isn't  much  of  a  show.  It  isn't  a  circus,  you 
know,"  he  said,  as  he  started  the  car  again, 
after  a  very  fat  lady  had  gotten  off.  "If 
you're  looking  for  a  circus  this  isn't  it.  The 
dog  show  is  only  a  little  side  one — the  kind 
they  used  to  charge  ten  cents  to  go  in  and 
see  after  or  before  the  regular  circus.  I  hope 
you  Curlytops  aren't  running  away  to  see  a 
circus,"  he  added  doubtfully. 

'  '  Oh,  no,  sir ! "  exclaimed  Janet.  ' i  We  're 
looking  for  our  lost  dog,  and  we  thought 
maybe  it  was  with  this  show.  Two  dogs  we 
had,  Tip  and  Top,"  she  went  on.  "They 
were  white  poodles  and  they  belonged  to 
Uncle  Toby  and  they  could  do  tricks.  But 
one  was  stolen  when  we  were  bringing  them 
home,  and  the  other  night  Top  was  taken 
from  our  barn.  It's  our  dogs  we're  looking 
for,  not  a  circus." 

"Besides,  we're  going  to  have  a  circus  of 
our  own,"  added  Teddy.  "That  is,  we  are 
if  we  get  Tip  and  Top  back." 

"Do  you  think  your  dogs  ran  off  to  join 
a  show?"  the  conductor  asked. 

' '  Oh,  no ! "  answered  Teddy.  ' '  They  were 
taken  away.  But  Mr.  Cassidy — he's  a  po- 
liceman— said  the  right  place  to  look  for  our 


The  Black  Poodles 215 

dogs  was  in  a  dog  show,  so  we're  looking/7 

"Well,  this  Professor  Montelli,  as  he  calls 
himself,  has  a  dog  show  near  the  end  of  my 
trolley  line,"  said  the  conductor.  "I  don't 
know  much  about  it,  as  it  only  came  there 
yesterday.  It's  in  a  little  tent — a  regular 
side  show.  I'll  put  you  off  near  it.  But  do 
you  think  it  will  be  safe  for  you  to  go  there 
alone  and  ask  for  your  lost  dogs?" 

"Oh,  we  won't  go  right  in  and  ask  for 
them,"  explained  Teddy.  He  and  his  sister 
had  talked  it  over,  and  they  had  made  up 
their  minds  what  they  would  do.  "We'll 
just  go  into  the  show — 'cause  we  have  money 
to  pay  for  our  tickets,"  the  Curlytop  boy  ex- 
plained. ' '  Then  if  we  see  Tip  and  Top  there 
we'll  take  'em  right  away." 

"That's  what  we  will!"  declared  Janet. 
"And  if  that  show  man  won't  give  our  dogs 
to  us  we'll  call  a  policeman." 

"Well,  I  guess  you  Curly  tops  can  take 
care  of  yourselves,"  laughed  the  conductor. 
"You  get  off  three  blocks  from  here,  and 
then  you'll  be  right  near  the  dog  show.  Good 
luck  to  you!" 

"Thank  you,"  replied  Teddy  and  Janet. 

They  saw  the  tent — a  small  one  with  a 
few  flags  on  it — almost  as  soon  as  they 


216        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

alighted  from  the  trolley  car.  It  was  about 
three  o'clock,  and  a  crowd  about  the  tent 
showed  that  the  performance  was  going  on, 
or  would  soon  start. 

Professor  Montelli's  name  was  painted  on 
a  strip  of  canvas  over  the  entrance  to  the 
tent,  and  on  either  side  were  painted  pictures 
of  dogs  doing  all  sorts  of  queer  tricks.  One 
picture  was  that  of  a  dog  jumping  off:  a  high 
platform  into  a  tank  of  water. 

"Oh,  if  we  could  only  make  our  monkey 
Jack  do  a  trick  like  that!"  whispered  Janet 
to  Teddy. 

"Maybe  we  can,"  he  whispered  back,  as* 
they  walked  up  to  the  tent.  "But  monkeys 
don't  like  water,  I  guess.  We  might  get 
Skyrocket  to  do  the  jump.  Well  try.  But 
now  let's  see  if  Tip  or  Top  are  here  in  this 
show." 

A  man  standing  in  a  booth  outside  the  tent 
was  calling  out  in  a  loud  voice : 

"Step  right  up,  ladies  and  gentlemen! 
Step  right  up,  boys  and  girls !  The  big  show 
is  about  to  begin!" 

He  ruffled  a  bundle  of  red  tickets  in  his 
hand  and  went  on : 

1 ' Pay  your  dime  and  step  right  up.  You  11 
see  the  world-famed  aggregation  of  canine 


The  Black  Poodles 217 

cut-ups!  The  funniest  dogs  you  ever  saw 
doing  the  funniest  tricks !  There  are  hound 
dogs,  bulldogs,  setter  dogs,  fox  terriers,  big 
dogs,  little  dogs,  all  good  dogs,  and  some 
poodle  dogs!" 

Ted  and  Janet  looked  at  each  other. 

" Poodles!"  whispered  the  Curlytops. 

Tip  and  Top  were  white  poodles ! 

"Come  on!  Let's  go  in!"  said  Teddy 
boldly. 

He  stepped  up  to  the  booth,  bought  two 
tickets,  and  he  and  Janet  went  into  the  tent. 
At  one  end  was  a  raised  platform,  hung 
about  with  red  cloth.  On  the  platform  were 
some  chairs,  a  table,  some  pedestals,  some 
paper-covered  hoops  and  other  things  used 
in  the  dog  tricks.  There  were  also  some 
board  benches,  like  circus  seats,  in  the  tent. 

"Come  on  up  front,  where  we  can  see  the 
dogs  better,"  said  Ted  to  his  sister.  "If  we 
see  Tip  or  Top  we'll  call  them  right  down 
to  us  off  the  platform." 

There  were  as  yet  not  many  persons  in  the 
tent,  and  the  Curlytops  had  no  trouble  get- 
ting front  seats.  Then  they  anxiously  waited 
for  the  performance  to  begin,  which  it  did  in 
a  little  while. 

Out  on  the  platform  came  a  man  with  a 


218        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

very  black  moustache  and  a  little  whip.  The 
moustache  was  under  his  nose  and  the  whip 
in  his  hands.  He  looked  around  at  the  audi- 
ence, and  then  in  a  sing-song  voice  said : 

"Ladies  an'  gen 'men:  With  your  kind 
attention  an*  permission  I  will  now  show  you 
what  my  dogs  can  do.  Let  'em  on,  Jack," 
he  called  to  someone  back  of  the  platform. 

A  moment  later  about  ten  dogs  rushed  up 
on  the  platform,  barking  and  wagging  their 
tails.  Every  one  of  the  dogs  looked  anx- 
iously at  the  black-eyed  and  black-mous- 
tached  man,  as  if  afraid  he  would, hit  them 
with  the  whip  he  carried.  Each  dog  seemed 
to  know  his  or  her  place,  and  went  to  chair, 
box,  or  platform,  until  all  were  arranged  in 
a  half  circle  back  of  the  man. 

"First  Lulu,  the  highest  jumper  in  the 
world,  will  perform  some  tricks,"  said  Pro- 
fessor Montelli.  "Here,  Lulu,"  he  called, 
and  a  long,  thin  greyhound  leaped  from  a 
chair  and  stood  ready.  This  dog  jumped 
over  a  pile  of  high  baskets,  and  through 
some  of  them,  there  being  no  bottoms  to 
them.  Then  the  greyhound  leaped  over  a 
high  pile  of  chairs. 

In  turn  the  other  dogs  did  tricks,  some  of 
which  the  Curlytops  had  seen  before,  and 


The  Black  Poodles 219 

some  of  which  were  new.  They  quite  en- 
joyed the  show,  or  they  would  have  done  so 
had  they  not  been  worrying  about  getting 
their  own  dogs  back.  They  looked  anxiously 
at  the  dogs  on  the  platform.  None  of  them 
was  Tip  or  Top. 

I  shall  not  tell  you  all  about  the  tricks  the 
dogs  in  this  show  did,  for  I  want  to  tell  you 
about  the  circus  the  Curlytops  had.  Enough 
to  say  that  Professor  Montelli  seemed  to 
know  a  great  deal  about  dogs,  though  I  can 
not  say  the  trick  animals  loved  him.  They 
seemed  more  afraid  than  anything  else. 

"Well,  I  guess  we  shan't  find  Tip  or  Top 
here,"  said  Ted  to  Janet  after  a  while. 
"There  aren't  any  white  poodles  like  ours." 

"No,  I  guess  not,"  sadly  agreed  the  little 
girl. 

But  just  then  Professor  Montelli  stepped 
to  the  edge  of  the  platform  and  said : 

"This  ends  our  regular  performance, 
ladies  an'  gen 'men,  but  I  have  two  more  dogs 
to  show  you.  I  have  not  finished  training 
them  yet,  an'  they  can  do  only  a  few  tricks, 
but  I  want  you  to  be  satisfied,  an'  think  that 
you  got  your  money's  worth,  so  you  will 
recommend  my  show  to  your  friends.  I  will 
now  show  you  two  more  trick  dogs.  Bring 


220        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

on  the  p.oodles,  Jack,"  he  called  to  his  as- 
sistant. 

Ted  and  Janet  looked  at  each  other> 
quickly. 

"Poodles!"  they  murmured,  but  they  did 
not  speak  out  loud. 

The  same  thought  was  in  each  of  their 
minds.  If  the  poodles  should  be  Tip  and 
Top! 

A  barking  was  heard  back  of  the  platform, 
and,  a  moment  later,  on  rushed  two  dogs, 
exactly  the  same  kind  of  poodles  as  were 
Tip  and  Top,  and  exactly  the  same  size. 

But  alas !  Tip  and  Top  were  white,  while 
these  poodles  were  jet  black! 


CHAPTER  XIX 

A  HAPPY  REUNION 

THE  hearts  of  the  Curlytops  had  beaten 
high  with  hope  when  they  heard  Professor 
Montelli  speak  of  some  poodles.  But  when 
they  saw  that  the  two  dogs  were  black,  in- 
stead of  white,  their  hearts  sank. 

"They  look  just  like  Tip  and  Top,  but  of 
course  they  can't  be,"  whispered  Janet,  as 
the  showman  began  clearing  the  stage  plat- 
form in  readiness  for  the  poodles  to  do  some 
tricks. 

"No,"  answered  Ted,  in  disappointed 
tones,  "Tip  and  Top  were  white — not  black, 
except  for  little  spots.  These  dogs  are  black 
all  over.  We  might  as  well  go  home.  Maybe 
Policeman  Cassidy  knows  of  another  dog 
show." 

"Oh,  let's  stay  and  see  just  one  poodle 
trick,"  begged  Janet. 

"All  right,"  agreed  Teddy. 


221 


222        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

So  the  Curlytops  remained  in  their  seats, 
with  the  others  of  the  audience.  The  two 
black  poodles  barked,  wagged  their  tails,  and 
looked  at  Professor  Montelli. 

"Come  on  now,  King!  Turn  a  somer- 
sault!" suddenly  cried  the  dark-moustached 
man.  Instantly  one  of  the  black  poodles — 
the  one  called  "King,"  began  turning  somer- 
sault after  somersault.  Right  out  to  the  end 
of  the  platform  he  turned  them,  and  then  he 
stood  there,  wagging  his  tail  and  waiting  for 
the  applause,  which  he  seemed  to  expect. 

And  the  people  did  clap.  They  liked  the 
poodle's  trick.  Janet  leaned  over  and  whis- 
pered to  Teddy : 

"That's  just  the  same  trick  Tip  did!" 

"Yes,"  agreed  the  Curlytop  boy.  "But 
it  can't  be  Tip." 

"No,  I  s'pose  not,"  sighed  Janet. 

"Come  back  here,  King,"  suddenly  called 
the  trainer.  "Now,  Emperor,"  he  went  on, 
pointing  his  whip  at  the  other  poodle.  "It 
is  your  turn.  Walk  on  your  hind  legs!" 

The  other  dog  did  not  seem  to  understand. 
It  slunk  away  and  growled  a  little. 

' i  Here !  None  of  that ! ' '  cried  the  trainer. 
"You  must  do  as  I  say !  Walk  on  your  hind 
legs!" 


A  Happy  Reunion  223 

Still  the  dog  would  not  mind. 

"Emperor  is  not  so  good  a  dog  as  King," 
said  the  man,  apologizing  to  the  audience. 
"I  have  not  had  him  so  long,  and  he  does  not 
do  his  tricks  very  well.  But  I  will  make 
him!" 

Suddenly  he  flicked  the  dog  he  called  "Em- 
peror" with  the  whip! 

The  dog  let  out  a  howl  of  pain. 

"Here!  Stop  that!"  cried  Teddy,  almost 
before  he  knew  what  he  was  saying. 

"Yes,  don't  hurt  the  dogs,"  added  a  lady, 
looking  kindly  at  the  Curlytops.  "The  little 
boy  is  right." 

"I  did  not  mean  to  hurt  him,"  explained 
Professor  Montelli,  smiling,  but  his  smile 
was  not  a  kind  one.  He  seemed  to  be  a  cruel 
man,  but  he  seemed  to  know  that  he  must  not 
be  cruel  to  his  dogs  in  public.  "Come,  Em- 
peror!" he  called  more  gently.  "Walk  on 
your  hind  legs!" 

This  time  the  black  poodle  did  so,  walking 
around  the  stage.  Again  Janet  leaned  over 
and  whispered  to  her  brother : 

"Top  used  to  do  that  same  trick!" 

"Yes,"  agreed  Teddy.    "That's  right." 

And  then  a  strange  thing  happened.  All 
at  once  the  two  poodles  put  their  noses  to- 


224        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

gether,  as  though  talking,  which  they  may 
have  been  doing  in  dog  language.  And  then 
the  one  the  man  had  called  Emperor  sud- 
denly jumped  on  top  of  the  back  of  the  dog 
called  King,  and  King  began  walking  around 
the  stage,  giving  the  other  a  ride ! 

The  people  clapped  at  this  trick,  and  the 
two  Curlytops  grew  strangely  excited.  Ted 
and  Janet  looked  at  each  other,  standing  up 
in  their  seats. 

"Ted,  do  you  know  what  I  think?"  said 
his  sister.  "I  think  those  two  dogs  are 
really  Tip  and  Top — our  poodles!  That's 
exactly  the  same  trick  they  did  in  Uncle 
Toby's  house. " 

"But  how  could  they  be  Tip  and  Top  when 
they're  black,  and  Tip  and  Top  were  white  ?" 
asked  Teddy. 

"I  don't  know,"  Janet  answered.  "But 
I'm  sure  they  are  our  dogs.  Maybe  they've 
been  in  the  coal  bin  and  got  all  black.  And, 
oh,  Ted!  Look!" 

Something  else  was  happening  on  the  plat- 
form of  the  dog  show  tent.  The  black  poodle 
called  King  began  walking  around  in  a  little 
circle  in  the  middle  of  the  stage.  And,  while 
thus  moving,  the  other  poodle  began  to  jump 
over  its  companion's  back.  First  this  way 


A  Happy  Reunion  225 

and  then  that  one  poodle  jumped  over  the 
other  poodle's  back. 

"Why!  Why!"  cried  Teddy.  "That's 
the  other  trick  we  saw  them  do,  Janet! 
That's  the  trick  Mrs.  Watson  said  Uncle 
Toby  taught  them — I  mean  taught  Tip  and 
Top." 

'  t  Yes, ' '  agreed  Janet.  ' '  And  I  know  these 
dogs  are  our  poodles — I  don't  care  if  they 
are  black!"  Then,  before  Ted  could  stop 
her,  she  called:  "Here,  Tip!  Here,  Top! 
Come  on!" 

Instantly  the  two  black  poodles  jumped 
down  off  the  stage,  and  with  barks  of  joy, 
and  mad  wagging?  of  their  little  tails,  ran 
to  the  Curlytops. 

"Oh,  Top!"  cried  Janet,  as  she  patted  his 
head,  "  I  'm  so  glad  we  found  you !  I  'd  know 
you  anywhere,  even  if  you  are  black!" 

Both  dogs  knew  the  children,  though  of 
course  Top,  having  been  with  them  longer, 
knew  them  best.  Tip  had  been  taken  away 
soon  after  being  removed  from  Uncle  Toby's 
house,  but  when  Tip  saw  that  Top  was 
friendly  with  the  children,  Tip  was  joyful 
also. 

I  call  the  black  dogs  Tip  and  Top,  for  they 
were  really  the  missing  poodles,  and  I  will 


226        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

explain  how  it  was  their  color  was  changed. 

No  sooner  did  Ted  and  Janet  call  the  black 
poodles  to  them  than  Professor  Montelli 
grew  very  angry  indeed.  He  jumped  down 
off  the  platform,  and,  going  to  where  the 
Curlytops  stood  at  their  seats,  with  the  dogs 
frisking  around  them,  the  trainer  cried: 

"Here!  What  do  you  mean  by  calling 
my  dogs  away  when  I  am  making  them  do 
tricks?  What  do  you  children  mean?" 

"These  aren't  your  dogs — they're  ours!" 
declared  Ted. 

"Yours!  Nonsense!"  blustered  the 
trainer.  "These  are  my  dogs.  I  have  had 
them  a  long  while!" 

"Not  both  of  them!"  said  Janet,  who  re- 
membered what  the  man  had  said.  "You 
told  us  you  hadn't  had  Emperor  very  long." 

"Well,  I  have  the  other!  They  are  both 
my  dogs!"  cried  the  angry  man.  "If  you 
have  lost  any  dogs  you  had  better  look  some- 
where else  for  them.  Get  out  of  my  tent  and 
give  me  back  the  poodles !" 

He  made  a  move  to  thrust  Ted  and  Janet 
to  one  side  and  pick  up  the  poodles,  but  a 
man  in  the  audience  said : 

"Not  so  fast,  Professor.  It  seems  to  me 
that  by  the  way  these  dogs  came  to  this  girl 


'A  Happy  Reunion  227 

and  boy  when  called  that  there  may  be  some- 
thing in  their  claim.  Did  you  lose  two- 
dogs?"  he  asked  Ted  and  Janet. 

' '  Yes,  sir, ' '  they  answered.  And  then  Ted 
told  how  Tip  was  taken  out  of  their  auto- 
mobile some  weeks  before,  while  Top  was 
stolen  from  their  barn  a  night  or  two  pre- 
vious. 

"Nonsense!  As  if  I  had  their  dogs!" 
sneered  the  trainer.  "What  kind  of  poodles 
did  you  lose,  as  you  say?"  he  asked. 

"Just  exactly  the  same  kind  as  these,  and 
they  did  the  same  tricks,"  Ted  answered. 
;<We  can  make  these  do  the  same  tricks  you 
did,  and  some  more,  too,"  he  added. 

"I  don't  believe  it!"  growled  the  trainer. 

"Let's  show  'em,  Ted!"  cried  Janet. 

And  then  and  there,  down  on  the  ground 
in  the  tent,  while  the  crowd  looked  on,  the 
Curlytops  put  the  two  black  poodles  through 
the  tricks  Tip  and  Top  used  to  do. 

"It  begins  to  look  as  though  there  was 
something  in  their  claim,"  said  the  man  who 
had  acted  as  the  friend  of  Ted  and  Janet. 

"Those  are  my  dogs!"  declared  the  Pro- 
fessor, getting  more  and  more  angry.  "Tell 
me — what  color  were  the  poodles  you  had?" 
he  asked  Janet  and  Ted. 


228        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

"Well,"  Ted  answered  slowly,  "Tip  and 
Top  were  white,  except  Tip  had  a  little  black 
spot  on  the  end  of  his  tail,  and  Top  had  a 
black  spot  on  his  head — on  the  top." 

"There  I  What  did  I  tell  you ?"  cried  the 
Professor.  "Their  poodles  were  white  and 
mine  are  black!  They  can't  be  the  same! 
Here,  King  and  Emperor!"  he  cried,  and, 
stooping  down  he  made  a  grab  for  the  little 
dogs  that  were  staying  near  Ted  and  Janet. 

With  barks  and  growls  the  poodles  sprang 
away  from  the  angry  man.  And,  as  it  hap- 
pened, the  one  the  man  had  called  "King" 
ran  against  a  pail  of  water  that  was  near 
the  bottom  of  the  platform.  The  pail  was 
upset  and  some  of  the  water  splashed  over 
the  black  dog. 

Then  a  queer  change  took  place.  Instead 
of  being  pure  black,  the  poodle  became 
streaked  black  and  white !  The  black  color 
began  running  out  of  its  hair,  and  formed  a 
little  inky  pool  on  the  ground  beneath  the 
animal. 

"Look!    Look!"  cried  Janet,  pointing. 

" Those  dogs  were  colored  black — they're 
white  poodles  dyed  black!"  cried  the  man 
who  had  taken  the  part  of  the  Curlytops. 


A  Happy  Reunion 229 

"Now  what  have  you  to  say?"  he  asked  the 
animal  trainer. 

"Well — er — those  dogs  are  mine !  I  don't 
know  who  stained  'em  black.  But  I  bought 
'em  of  a  young  man " 

"Was  his  name  Shorty?"  asked  Ted. 

"Well,  maybe  it  was,"  admitted  the  show- 
man. "What  has  that  got  to  do  with  it? 
Those  are  my  dogs ! ' ' 

"They're  ours!"  insisted  Ted.  "Shorty 
was  watching  our  auto  when  Tip  was  stolen, '  '• 
he  went  on,  "and  he  knew  where  we  were 
taking  Top.  I  guess  Shorty  broke  into  our 
barn  the  other  night,  and  took  Top  and  col- 
ored him  black.  These  are  our  poodles,  and 
we're  going  to  have  them!" 

"It  looks  as  though  they  had  you,  Profes- 
sor," said  the  kind  man. 

"And  we're  going  to  get  a  policeman!" 
added  Janet. 

"Oh,  well,  if  you're  sure  they  are  your 
dogs,  take  'em!"  growled  the  showman.  "I 
didn't  know  they  were  stolen.  A  young  fel- 
low sold  me  one  some  time  ago,  and  I  bought 
the  other  of  him  day  before  yesterday.  I  did 
color  the  dogs  black,"  he  admitted,  "because 
they  don't  get  so  dirty  as  white  ones.  The 
dye  will  wash  off, ' '  he  said.  t '  If  you  are  sure 


230        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

these  are  your  poodles,  take  'em  along !"  he 
said  to  Ted  and  Janet. 

"Oh,  we're  sure  all  right!"  cried  Janet. 
And  then  she  took  Top  up  in  her  arms,  while 
Teddy  carried  the  partly  black  and  partly 
white  Tip  out  of  the  tent,  while  the  audience 
laughed  and  some  clapped. 

"The  show's  over!"  growled  the  black- 
moustached  man.  * l  And  if  I  get  hold  of  that 
Shorty  I'll  have  him  arrested  for  selling  me 
stolen  dogs.  They  were  valuable,  too — as 
good  trick  dogs  as  I  ever  saw.  Do  you  want 
to  sell  them  to  me  ?"  he  asked  the  Curlytops.j 

"No,  sir!"  cried  Teddy  and  Janet  as  they 
hurried  out  of  the  tent.  "We're  going  to 
have  a  circus  of  our  own  with  'em!" 

And,  happy  and  joyful,  with  the  delighted 
Tip  and  Top  in  their  arms,  the  Curlytops 
started  for  home. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  CURLYTOPS'  CIRCTJS 

HURRYING  along,  as  if  afraid  that  Profes- 
sor Montelli  might  run  after  them  and  take 
Tip  and  Top  away  again,  Teddy  and  Janet 
went  to  the  corner  where  they  had  left  the 
trolley  car.  Some  boys  and  girls  who  had 
been  in  the  dog  show  followed  the  Curlytops, 
and  men  and  women  smiled  at  the  children. 

"Here  comes  a  car!"  cried  Ted,  as  he  saw 
one  approaching.  "Have  we  got  enough 
money  left  to  take  us  home,  Jan?"  he  asked, 
for  his  sister  had  the  cash. 

"I  guess  so,"  she  answered.  "If  we 
haven't  well  ask  the  conductor  please  to 
charge  it." 

The  car  stopped  and  with  Janet  holding 
Top  and  Ted  with  Tip  in  his  arms,  the  chil- 
dren got  aboard. 

"Well,  I  see  you  got  your  dogs  back," 
came  a  voice,  and,  looking  up,  the  Curlytops 

231 


232        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

saw  the  same  conductor  they  had  ridden  out 
with  from  Cresco. 

"I  didn't  think  I'd  have  you  back  with 
me  so  soon,"  he  said.  "But  I'm  glad  to  see 
you.  It's  sort  of  against  the  rules  to  bring 
dogs  on  trolley  cars,  but  I  guess  yours  will 
be  all  right,  as  long  as  they're  trick  circus 
dogs." 

"Shall  we  make  'em  do  some  tricks  for 
you  ?"  asked  Teddy,  as  he  and  his  sister  took 
their  seats. 

"Well,  not  now,  thank  you, "  the  conductor 
answered,  with  a  smile  as  the  car  started 
off,  leaving  behind  the  curious  crowd.  "I'll 
soon  be  so  busy  collecting  fares  that  I  won't 
have  time  to  watch." 

"Then  we'll  send  you  a  ticket  to  our  cir- 
cus," promised  Janet,  "  'cause  you  were  so 
kind  to  us." 

"Thank  you,"  replied  the  conductor.    "I 
shall  be  glad  to  come.  You  can  take  my  name 
and  mail  the  ticket  to  me  at  the  car  house. 
I  like  animals,"  and  he  patted  the  heads  of  , 
Tip  and  Top.    "But  what  makes  one  black,  " 
and  the  other  streaked  black  and  white  ?"  he 
asked. 

"They're  colored,  but  it  will  wash  off," 


The  Curlytops'  Circus 233 

answered  Ted.  "The  Professor,  or  maybe 
Shorty,  dyed  our  white  poodles  black. " 

You  can  imagine  how  surprised  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Martin  were  when  Ted  and  Janet  came 
in  with  the  lost  dogs — one  black  and  the 
other  white  and  black. 

"I  was  just  going  to  telephone  to  the  po- 
lice and  have  them  start  to  look  for  you!" 
cried  their  mother.  ' ( I  was  worried.  Where 
have  you  been?" 

"To  a  dog  show,  where  we  found  Tip  and 
Top,"  said  Janet. 

Then  they  told  the  whole  story,  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Martin  were  much  surprised  at 
what  the  Curlytops  had  done. 

"As  it  was,  you  did  just  the  right  thing," 
said  their  father.  "Though  I  wouldn't  like 
to  have  you  do  it  again.  However,  I'm  glad 
you  have  your  pets  back,  though  Tip  isn't 
exactly  a  beauty." 

"They'll  be  all  right  after  they  have  Had! 
a  bath,"  said  Janet. 

And  the  poodles  were,  coming  from  the  tub 
as  white  as  snow.  Later  it  was  learned  that 
the  young  man  known  as  Shorty  had  not 
really  taken  Tip  from  the  automobile.  But 
he  had  gotten  a  chum  of  his  to  do  it,  and 
afterward  the  two  had  sold  the  dog.  They 


234        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

sold  him  to  Professor  Montelli,  who  used  to 
have  a  side  show  with  a  circus,  but  who,  after 
a  quarrel,  started  out  for  himself,  traveling 
around  the  country  giving  exhibitions. 

Shorty,  having  heard  the  talk  of  the  Mar- 
tin family  while  he  was  acting  as  guard  of 
the  automobile  load  of  pets,  knew  where  Top 
was  being  taken,  to  Cresco.  And  it  was  he 
who  broke  into  the  barn  and  took  away  the 
poodle.  For,  as  I  have  told  you,  while  one 
dog  was  valuable  for  the  tricks  he  could  do, 
the  two,  doing  tricks  together,  were  worth 
much  more. 

Professor  Montelli  may  not  have  known 
the  poodles  were  stolen,  and  he  may,  as  he 
said,  have  dyed  them  with  harmless  black 
color  to  keep  their  white  coats  from  getting 
dirty.  But  the  police  said  they  thought  the 
dog  trainer  had  a  hand,  with  Shorty,  in  the 
thefts,  and  this  may  have  been  so.  At  any 
rate  the  Curlytops  had  their  pet  poodles 
back,  and  they  heard  nothing  more  of  Shorty 
or  the  showman. 

"And  now  we  can  give  our  circus!"  cried 
Janet  one  afternoon,  when  she  and  Teddy, 
with  Trouble,  were  feeding  their  pets  in  the 
barn. 

It  did  not  take  long  to  make  arrangements 


The  Curlytops'  Circus 235 

for  the  show.  Jimmy  Norton's  father  se- 
cured a  large  tent  for  the  Curlytops  and  their 
friends,  and  the  tent  was  set  up  in  a  lot  not 
far  from  the  Martin  house.  Several  boys 
and  girls  helped  make  the  arrangements,  and 
Mr.  Martin  sent  up  from  the  store  a  pile  of 
boxes  and  boards  which  some  of  his  men 
made  into  seats. 

Mrs.  Martin  told  the  ladies  who  had  asked 
her  to  help  raise  money  for  the  orphans  that 
the  Curlytops  were  going  to  give  all  they 
took  in  at  the  circus  to  help  the  poor  chil- 
dren. And  when  this  became  known  many 
grown  folk,  as  well  as  boys  and  girls,  bought 
tickets  for  the  performance. 

It  was  to  be  given  one  afternoon,  and  you 
can  imagine  all  the  work  that  had  to  be  done 
to  get  ready.  But  some  of  the  fathers  and 
mothers  of  the  chums  of  the  Curlytops 
helped,  leaving  to  Ted  and  Janet  the  work 
of  getting  the  animals  ready  to  do  their 
tricks.  Jack  Turton  was  to  be  a  fat  little 
clown,  riding  on  a  pony  his  father  had 
bought  for  him.  Harry  Kent  and  some  other 
boys  were  to  help  Teddy,  and  some  of  Jan's 
girl  friends  offered  to  help  her. 

And  we  must  not  forget  Trouble.  As  ar- 
ranged, he  was  to  come  into  the  tent  at  a  cer- 


236        The  Curly  tops  and  Their  Pets 

tain  time,  driving  Skyrocket,  the  dog,  and 
Turnover,  the  cat,  hitched  to  his  little  ex- 
press wagon,  with  funny  Miss  Muffin  on  the 
seat. 

At  last  the  day  of  the  circus  came.  Into/ 
the  tent  were  moved  the  cages  of  the  white 
mice  and  the  white  rats,  the  tank  containing 
Slider,  the  pet  alligator,  the  cage  of  Mr. 
Mp,  the  parrot,  and  the  box  of  Jack,  the 
monkey.  Snuff,  Skyrocket  and  Turnover 
were  on  hand.  Tip  and  Top  were  all  ready 
to  perform  their  tricks. 

"Do  you  think  we'll  have  a  big  crowd?" 
asked  Janet  of  Ted,  when  everything  was 
arranged  and  it  was  almost  time  for  the 
show  to  begin. 

"Sure  we  will!"  he  answered.  "Every- 
body I  met  is  coming — all  the  fellows  and 
girls  and  a  lot  of  men  and  women.  We'll 
make  a  lot  of  money  for  the  orphans." 

"I  wish  Uncle  Toby  could  be  here  to  see 
it  all,"  went  on  Janet,  as  she  took  a  last  look 
inside  the  tent  to  make  sure  everything  was 
in  order.  "He'd  be  surprised  at  some  of 
the  things  his  pets  can  do." 

"Yes,  I  wish  Uncle  Toby  could  be  here," 
said  her  brother.  "It's  queer  about  him.  He 
never  answered  any  of  daddy's  letters. 


The  Curlytops'  Circus  237 

South  America  must  be  a  good  way  off,  for 
Uncle  Toby  hasn't  gotten  there  yet." 

"Well,"  began  Ted.    "I  guess "  and 

then  Harry  Kent  called : 

"Hey,  Ted!  You'd  better  look  at  Slider! 
He's  trying  to  crawl  out  of  his  tank." 

1 '  It  isn  't  time  for  him  to  start  his  act  yet ! ' ' 
answered  the  Curlytop  boy.  "I'll  have  to* 
give  him  a  bit  of  meat  to  quiet  him!" 

And  a  little  while  after  that  the  audience 
began  to  enter  the  tent.  Boys  and  girls,  of 
course,  were  the  first,  but  there  were  a  num- 
ber of  men  and  women,  too,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  every  seat  was  taken.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Martin  just  had  to  be  there — they 
couldn't  stay  away  when  the  Curlytops  were 
giving  a  show.  Besides,  Mother  Martin  had 
to  help  Trouble  dress  for  his  act. 

"Oh,  we're  going  to  have  a  big  crowd!" 
said  Janet  excitedly  to  Teddy,  in  the  little 
dressing  room  behind  the  stage.  There  was 
a  stage  almost  like  the  one  Professor  Mon- 
telli  had  in  his  dog  show. 

"You  better  go  out  and  make  your  talk 
now,"  went  on  Janet  to  her  brother.  "The 
tent  won't  hold  many  more,  and  we  want  to 
start." 

"All  right,"  agreed  Teddy.    It  had  been 


238        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

decided  that  he  was  to  make  a  little  speech 
of  welcome.  Soon  he  was  out  in  front,  bow- 
ing as  he  did  when  he  " spoke  a  piece"  in 
school. 

" Ladies  and  gentlemen,"  began  Teddy, 
"and  boys  and  girls.  We're  glad  you  came 
to  our  circus,  and  we  hope  you  will  like  our 
pets  and  what  they  do.  And  my  little 
brother,  Trouble,  is  going  to  do  an  act  by 
himself.  He " 

"Here  I  is  I"  suddenly  cried  Trouble,  com- 
ing out  behind  Teddy.  "I  do  my  act  now!" 

"No!  No!"  said  Teddy,  while  the  audi- 
ence laughed.  For  Trouble  was  only  half 
dressed,  having  rushed  out  of  the  room  back 
of  the  stage  when  he  heard  his  name  men- 
tioned. 

"Here,  William!  Come  back  and  let  me 
finish  I"  said  his  mother,  and  she  reached  out 
her  hand  and  pulled  Trouble  back  to  her. 

"Now  the  show  will  start, ' '  Teddy  finished,! 
amid  laughter. 

The  first  act  was  a  tableau  with  Ted,  Janet 
and  their  boy  and  girl  helpers,  not  forget- 
ting Trouble,  of  course,  posing  on  the  stage 
Tvith  their  pets.  Gathered  about  the  chil- 
dren were  the  dogs,  the  cats,  Mr.  Nip,  the 
parrot,  Jack  the  monkey,  the  white  mice  and 


The  Curlytops*  Circus 239 

the  white  rats  in  cages,  and  Slider,  the  pet 
alligator.  Down  in  the  audience  Harry 
Weldon  played  the  mouth  organ.  He  was  the 
"  orchestra. " 

No  sooner  had  Harry  started  to  play  than 
Tip,  Top  and  Skyrocket  barked,  the  catsi 
mewed,  the  monkey  chattered  and  Mr.  Nip 
cried : 

"I'm  a  crack-crack-cracker!" 

You  should  have  heard  the  audience  clap 
then  I 

One  after  another  the  animals  did  their 
tricks,  Ted,  Janet  and  the  other  boys  and 
girls  helping.  Mr.  Nip,  the  parrot,  after  he 
had  been  quieted  down,  walked  up  and  down 
a  little  ladder,  that  was  balanced  like  a  see- 
saw over  a  tiny  board.  Mr.  Nip  would  walk 
to  one  end  of  the  ladder,  and  it  would  go 
down  with  him.  Then  he  would  walk  to  the 
other  end,  which  would  then  sway  downward. 
And  when  he  had  finished  this  trick  Mr.  Nip 
cried : 

1 '  Help !  Fire !  Police ! ' '  and  flew  over  on 
Janet's  shoulder. 

"He's  as  good  as  a  watch  dog,  that  parrot 
is,"  said  Policeman  Cassidy,  who  had  come 
to  the  show,  as  had  also  the  kind  trolley  car 


240        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

conductor.    "He's  a  regular  burglar  alarm, 
he  is!" 

Snuff  and  Turnover  did  their  tricks,  some 
separately  and  some  together.  One  of  the 
tricks  they  did  together  was  to  run  and  jump 
through  a  paper  hoop,  and  when  Turnover 
had  landed  on  the  other  side,  through  the' 
hoop,  he  lay  down  and  rolled  over  and  over 
— one  of  the  first  tricks  the  Curlytops  had 
taught  their  pet. 

Again  the  audience  clapped  and  laughed. 
But  there  was  more  to  come.  Tip  and  Top 
did  the  tricks  for  which  they  were  famous, 
separately  and  together,  one  dog  walking  on 
his  hind  legs,  and  the  other  turning  somer- 
saults. Then  one  dog  got  on  the  other's 
back,  the  two  going  around  the  stage  to- 
gether. And  as  a  climax  they  did  the  trick 
by  which  Ted  and  Janet  had  recognized  their 
pets  in  Professor  Montelli's  tent,  one  dog 
leaping  over  the  other's  back,  while  moving 
along. 

"Now,  Jan,  you  do  your  trick  with  the 
white  mice  and  the  alligator  while  Harry 
Kent  and  I  fix  up  the  tower  for  Jack  to  jump 
from,"  said  Ted.  "And  Jack  can  do  his 
clown  tricks,  too." 

It  had  been  decided  that  while  Teddy  and 


The  Curlytops'  Circus  241 

his  helper  were  putting  in  place  the  tower 
for  the  monkey  to  leap  from  something  must 
be  done  to  amuse  the  audience. 

So  Janet  had  said  she  would  do  some 
little  tricks  with  the  mice,  rats,  and  alligator, 
while  Harry,  the  fat  little  boy  clown,  would 
turn  somersaults  and  handsprings  on  the 
stage.  i 

This  went  off  very  well.  Janet  fixed  the 
slanting  board  for  Slider  to  coast  "down 
hill,"  and  when  the  alligator  had  done  this 
the  audience  laughed  its  hardest.  Then  some 
of  the  rats  and  mice  did  simple  tricks,  two 
of  the  larger  rats  pulling  a  little  toy  wagon 
in  which  rode  two  mice. 

However,  these  pets  did  not  do  as  well  as 
+he  others,  for  the  two  in  the  wagon  kept 
jumping  out  and  Janet  had  to  keep  putting 
them  back. 

Jack,  the  fat  little  clown,  made  a  big 
' '  hit. ' '  He  was  really  very  funny,  and  when, 
toward  the  end  of  his  act,  he  got  too  near  the 
edge  of  the  stage  and  fell  into  the  lap  of 
big  Oscar  North,  the  audience  thought  it  was 
all  part  of  the  show,  and  not  an  accident, 
and  clapped  most  loudly.  However,  Jack 
was  not  hurt,  and  only  laughed  at  the  mis- 
hap. 


242        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

By  this  time  the  tower  was  ready.  It 
reached  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  tent,  and  as 
the  boxes  had  been  covered  with  green 
branches  they  made  a  nice  appearance. 

"Up,  Jack!  Up!"  called  Ted,  climbing 
up  the  stepladder  and  placing  the  banana 
on  top  of  the  tower.  Then  Ted  had  to  hurry 
the  ladder  away,  after  Jack  had  climbed  up 
to  the  top,  for  fear  the  monkey  would  climb 
down  that  same  way  instead  of  jumping  as 
he  was  wanted  to  do. 

Ted  and  Harry  Kent  held  the  net  at  the 
foot  of  the  tower.  This  time  the  net  was 
not  a  lace  curtain,  but  some  old  bags  sewed 
together.  Janet  held  up  the  bit  of  banana, 
and,  after  he  had  eaten  the  piece  on  top  of 
his  perch,  the  monkey  looked  down  at  the 
other  bit  of  fruit. 

"Come  on,  Jack!    Jump!"  cried  Teddy. 

And  to  the  delight  of  the  Curlytops,  Jack 
jumped  his  very  best,  landing  in  the  net  and 
bouncing  up  and  down. 

' '  Good  trick !  Good  trick ! ' '  cried  the  trol- 
ley car  conductor,  clapping  the  loudest  of  all. 

After  that  Jack  did  a  number  of  other 
simple  tricks,  and  then  it  was  time  for 
Trouble  to  come  on  in  his  act.  Only  a  few 
knew  what  the  little  fellow  was  to  do.  But 


The  Curlytops'  Circus  243 

when  the  curtains  on  the  stage  were  pulled 
apart  by  Mrs.  Martin  and  the  little  fellow 
walked  out,  dressed  like  the  pictures  of  Cu- 
pid on  valentines,  driving  the  dog  and  cat 
harnessed  to  the  wagon,  with  queer  Miss 
Muffin  on  the  seat,  you  should  have  heard 
the  people  laugh  and  clap ! 

"Didap!  Didap!"  cried  Trouble  to  his 
dog  and  cat  team.  " Didap  an'  go  fast!" 

Around  the  stage  went  Skyrocket  and 
Turnover,  behaving  very  nicely ;  and  when  he 
had  made  one  round  Trouble  stood  in  the 
middle  of  the  stage  and  made  a  low  bow,  as 
his  mother  had  taught  him  to  do. 

"He's  a  cute  little  chap!"  said  Policeman 
Cassidy. 

And  then  came  the  last  scene  of  all,  where 
Ted,  Janet,  Trouble  and  their  boy  and  girl 
helpers,  with  all  the  pets,  except  the  parrot, 
alligator  and  rats  and  mice,  marched  around 
the  stage,  while  the  mouth  organ  was  loudly 
played. 

" That's  the  end  of  the  show!  Much 
obliged  to  you  all  for  coming!"  called  out 
Teddy. 

"And  let's  see  how  much  we  made  for  the 
orphans!"  exclaimed  Janet,  before  any  of 
the  audience  had  a  chance  to  leave. 


244        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

There  was  a  laugh  at  this. 

"You  did  very  well,  Curlytops,  and 
Trouble  also,"  said  Mrs.  Martin,  as  the  chil- 
dren began  to  take  off  their  costumes,  for 
they  had  all  dressed  especially  for  the  oc- 
casion. 

"I  never  thought  the  pets  would  act  so 
well,"  added  Mr.  Martin. 

"And  did  we  make  much  money?"  Janet 
wanted  to  know. 

Mr.  Martin  was  counting  it.  As  he 
dropped  the  last  penny  back  into  the  cash 
box  he  announced : 

"It  is  ninety-nine  dollars  and  one  cent." 

"Well,  here's  ninety-nine  cents  to  make  it 
an  even  hundred  dollars !"  cried  a  jolly  voice 
at  the  tent  entrance,  and  in  walked  a  man 
who  seemed  to  be  a  stranger.  But  at  the  sec- 
ond look  Mr.  Martin  cried : 

"Uncle  Toby!" 

"Yes,  Uncle  Toby!"  laughed  the  man.  "I 
got  here  a  little  too  late  for  the  show,  but 
you  can  give  it  over  again  for  me,  and  111 
put  as  much  again  in  the  collection  box  as 
you  have  there.  How  are  all  my  pets  ?"  and 
he  laughed  again  and  looked  at  the  Curly- 
tops  as  well  as  at  the  animals. 


The  Curlytops'  Circus  245 

"We're  well,  thank  you,"  said  Janet, 
shyly. 

"And  Tip  and  Top  were  taken  away  but 
we  got  them  back, ' '  added  Ted. 

"An'  Mr.  Nip  he  catch  a  bu'glar!"  lisped 
Trouble. 

"My!  My!  There  must  have  been  a  lot 
of  excitement  while  I  have  been  gone!" 
laughed  Uncle  Toby,  for  it  was,  indeed,  he. 

"When  did  you  get  back  from  South 
America?"  asked  Mr.  Martin. 

' i  I  didn  't  go, ' '  answered  Uncle  Toby.  ' '  I 
got  all  ready  to  go,  but  changed  my  mind  and 
went  to  Canada  instead.  I'm  going  back  to 
live  in  my  old  house." 

"And  will  you — will  you  take  your  pets  ?" 
asked  Teddy. 

"Well,  not  right  away,"  answered  Uncle 
Toby.  "You  may  keep  them  as  long  as  you 
like.  I  wish  I  had  been  here  for  the  show, 
but  here's  the  ninety-nine  cents  I  promised, 
and  if  you  give  the  show  for  me  later  on  111 
give  a  hundred  dollars  for  the  orphans." 

"Oh,  how  lovely!"  cried  Janet.  "Let's 
start  and  give  it  now!" 

It  was,  however,  a  little  too  late  in  the 
day  for  that.  But,  a  week  later,  Uncle  Toby 
did  see  all  the  pets  put  through  their  tricks 


246        The  Curlytops  and  Their  Pets 

and  he  gave  another  hundred  to  the  orphan 
fund,  so  that  many  of  the  poor  children  had 
a  fine  vacation  time  in  the  country. 

"Well,  we  certainly  had  a  lot  of  fun  with 
all  the  animals,"  said  Janet  one  day,  when 
she  and  Teddy  were  playing  out  under  the 
trees  with  the  dogs  and  the  cats. 

"Yes,"  he  agreed,  "we  did.  We  had  as 
much  fun  this  summer  as  if  we  had  gone 
away.  And  I  wonder  what  we  can  do  next  1 ' ' 

"Oh,  something,  I  guess,"  said  Janet. 
"What  I'm  going  to  do  now  is  go  in  and 
get  something  to  eat." 

"I'm  a  crack-crack-cracker!"  shrieked 
Mr.  Nip  from  his  perch. 

"Well,  I  want  something  more  than 
crackers !"  laughed  Janet. 

"So  do  I!"  agreed  Teddy.  "Well  get 
some  bread  and  jam  and  also  feed  our  pets. 
I  guess  they're  hungry,  too." 

And  while  the  Curlytops  are  thus  engaged 
we  will  say  good-bye  to  Janet,  Teddy  and 
Trouble. 

THE  END 


THE  CURLYTOPS  SERIES 


BY  HOWARD  R.  GARIS 

Author  of  the  famous  "Bedtime  Animal  Stories" 

12mo.     Cloth.     Illustrated.    Jacket  in  full  color 
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books  for  little  people. 

\  t~\t    \rllt,JKK.l    l^iKl  I   EJ 

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1.  THE  CURLYTOPS  AT  CHERRY  FARM 

or  Vacation  Days  in  the  Country 

A  tale  of  happy  vacation  days  on  a  farm. 
The  Curlytops  have  exciting  adventures. 


2.  THE  CURLYTOPS  ON  STAR  ISLAND 

or  Camping  out  with  Grandpa 

The  Curlytops  were  delighted  when  grandpa  took  them  to  camp 
on  Star  Island.    There  they  had  great  fun  and  a  real  mystery. 

3.  THE  CURLYTOPS  SNOWED  IN 

or  Grand  Fun  with  Skates  and  Sleds 

Winter  was  a  jolly  time  for  the  Curlytops,  with  their  skates  and 
eleds,  on  the  lakes  and  hills. 

4.  THE  CURLYTOPS  AT  UNCLE  FRANK'S  RANCH 

or  Little  Folks  on  Pony  Back 

Out  West  on  their  uncle's  ranch  they  have  a  wonderful  time 
among  the  cowboys  and  on  pony  back. 

5.  THE  CURLYTOPS  AT  SILVER  LAKE 

or  On  the  Water  with  Uncle  Ben 

The  Curlytops  camp  out  with  Uncle  Ben  on  the  shores  of  a 
beautiful  lake. 

6.  THE  CURLYTOPS  AND  THEIR  PETS 

or  Uncle  Toby's  Strange  Collection 

When  an  old  uncle  leaves  them  to  care  for  his  collection  of  pets, 
they  get  up  a  circus  for  charity. 

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BROTHER  AND  SISTER  SERIES 


BY  JOSEPHINE  LAWRENCE 

12mo.     Cloth.    Illustrated.    Jacket  in  full  colors 
Price  per  volume,  60  cents,  postpaid 

Brother  and  Sister  are  the  youngest  of  a  large 
family  of  children  and  because  they  are  so  eager 
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Brother  and  Sister  are  busy  and  happy  all 
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set  out  to  help  them. 

2.  BROTHER  AND  SISTER'S  SCHOOLDAYS 

Brother  and  Sister  attend  the  Ridgeway  public  school  where 
their  little,  poor  friend  Mickey  Gaffney  is  also  a  pupil.  Brother  and 
Mickey  try  to  find  a  missing  gem  which  their  teacher  loses  from  her 
ring  which  gets  them  into  trouble  with  the  janitor. 

3.  BROTHER  AND  SISTER'S  HOLIDAYS 

Thanksgiving  Day  at  their  grandmother's  house  was  lots  of  fun 
for  Brother  and  Sister;  also  their  Christmas  time,  when  they  helped 
the  "poor  people"  for  miles  around. 

4.  BROTHER  AND  SISTER'S  VACATION 

Many  strange  things  happen  to  Brother  and  Sister  while  spending 
their  vacation  off  in  the  woods .  A  most  interesting  story  for  children . 

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New  York 


THE  BILLY  BUNNY  BOOKS 


BY  DAVID  CORY 

Ylmo.     Cloth.     Illustrated  in  colors 

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Fascinating  stories  about  a  little  rabbit 
•whose  exciting  adventures  in  the  Friendly  Forest 
and  the  Pleasant  Meadow  will  delight  every 
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1.    BILLY  BUNNY  AND  THE  FRIENDLY 
ELEPHANT 

Billy  Bunny's  uncle,  Mr.  Lucky  Lefthind- 
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and  they  have  many  strange  adventures  to- 
gether. 


2.  BILLY  BUNNY  AND  DADDY  FOX 

This  old  robber  is  on  the  watch  to  catch  the  little  rabbit,  who 
has  to  use  his  wits  to  escape  from  the  crafty  old  fox. 

3.  BILLY  BUNNY  AND  UNCLE  BULL  FROG 

Uncle  Bull  Frog  sits  all  day  on  his  log  in  the  Old  Mill  Pond 
catching  flies,  and  telling  Billy  Bunny  interesting  stories. 

4.     BILLY  BUNNY  AND  UNCLE  LUCKY  LEFTHINDFOOT 

"Uncle  Lucky,"  as  he  is  called,  because  he  is  very  rich,  owns  a 
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every  day. 

5.  BILLY   BUNNY  AND   ROBBIE   REDBREAST 

Billy  Bunny  gets  into  trouble  with  nearly  all  of  his  woodland 
neighbors  but  they  make  up  and  become  friends  again.  Robbie 
Redbreast  has  his  troubles  but  they  are  only  little  ones. 

6.  BILLY   BUNNY  AND   TIMMIE   CHIPMUNK 

Billy  Bunny  has  many  adventures  with  his  friends  of  the  field 
and  forest.  Timmie  Chipmunk  was  often  unlucky  but  he  was 
smart  enough  to  escape  most  of  his  dangers. 

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THE  RUBY  AND  RUTHY  SERIES 


DY    MINNIE   E.   PAULL 


I2mo.    Cloth.    Illustrated.    Price  per  volume,  65  cents,  postpaid. 


Four  bright  and  entertaining  stories  told 
in  Mrs.  Paull's  happiest  manner  are  among 
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RUBY  AND  RUTHY 

Ruby  and  Ruthie  were  not  old  enough  to 
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RUBY'S  UPS  AND  DOWNS 

There  were  troubles  enough  for  a  dozen  grown-ups,  but  Ruby 
got  ahead  of  them  all,  and,  in  spite  of  them,  became  a  favorite 
in  the  lively  times  at  school. 


RUBY  AT  SCHOOL 

Ruby  had  many  surprises  when  she  went  to  the  impossible  place 
she  heard  called  a  boarding  school,  but  every  experience  helped 
to  make  her  a  stronger-minded  girl. 


RUBY'S   VACATION 

This  volume  shows  how  a  little  girl  improves  by  having  varie- 
ties of  experience  both  happy  and  unhappy,  provided  she  thinks, 
and  is  able  to  use  her  good  sense.  Ruby  lives  and  learns. 


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Everybody  will  love  the  story  of 

NOBODY'S 
BOY 


NOBODY5 
BOY 


By  HECTOR  MALOT 

The  dearest  character 
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F  ami  lie  ("Nobody's 
Boy"). 

HECTOR  MALOT 

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"Nobody's  Boy"  is  one  of  the  supreme 
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At  All  Booksellers 


CUPPLES  &  LEON  CO.  Publishers  New  York 


THE    BOYS'   OUTING    LIBRARY 

I2mo.    Cloth.    Illustrated.    Jacket  in  full  color. 
Price,  per  volume,  65  cents,  postpaid. 


THE  SADDLE  BOYS  SERIES 

BY  CAPT.  JAMES  CARSON 

The  Saddle  Boys  of  the  Rockies 
The  Saddle  Boys  in  the  Grand  Canyon 
The  Saddle  Boys  on  the  Plains 
The  Saddle  Boys  at  Circle  Ranch 
The  Saddle  Boys  on  Mexican  Trails 

THE  DAVE  DASHAWAY  SERIES 


BY    ROY    ROCXWOOP 

Dave  Dashaway  the  Young  Aviator 
Dave  Dashaway  and  His  Hydroplane 
Dave  Dashaway  and  His  Giant  Airship 
Dave  Dashaway  Around  the  World 
Dave  Dashaway:  Air  Champion 

THE  SPEEDWELL  BOYS  SERIES 


BY    ROY    ROCKWOOP 

The  Speedwell  Boys  on  Motorcycles 

The  Speedwell  Boys  and  Their  Racing  Auto 

The  Speedwell  Boys  and  Their  Power  Launch 

The  Speedwell  Boys  in  a  Submarine 

The  Speedwell  Boys  and  Their  Ice  Racer 

THE  TOM  FAIRFIELD  SERIES 


BY  ALLEN   CHAPMAN 


Tom  Fairfield's  School  Days 
Tom  Fairfield  at  Sea 


Tom  Fairfield  in  Camp 

Tom  Fairfield's  Pluck  and  Luck 


Tom  Fairfield's  Hunting  Trip 
THE  FRED  FENTON  ATHLETIC  SERIES 


BY  ALLEN  CHAPMAN 


Fred  Fenton  the  Pitcher 
Fred  Fenton  in  the  Line 


Fred  Fenton  on  the  Crew 
Fred  Fenton  on  the  Track 


Fred  Fenton:  Marathon  Runner 
Send  For  Our  Free  Illustrated  Catalogue. 


CUPPLES  &  LEON  COMPANY,  Publishers 


New  York 


A     000  047  904     8 


